


Miraculous : Tales of Lady Monarch and Chat Noir (OLD)

by Critical_Damage



Series: Miraculous Monarch [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bee Chloé Bourgeois | Queen Bee, Butterfly Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Confident Marinette Dupain-Cheng, F/F, F/M, Fox Lila Rossi, Kwami Swap, Ladybug Adrien Agreste | Mister Bug, Lesbian disaster Lila Rossi, Lila Rossi Redemption, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Peacock Gabriel Agreste, Psychological Trauma, She can't afford to, She's no longer clumsy, Smart Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Temporary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 58
Words: 138,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21717484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Critical_Damage/pseuds/Critical_Damage
Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a teenage girl who fights a mysterious villain that has manged to get their hands on the miracle box. Follow her adventures in her last school year at Francoise Dupont as she fights this villain with the help of Chat Noir, a little butterfly kwami, as well as a few other friends she makes along the way!Edit: Greetings! You are now reading my old, unfinished fic! This story has been given an update in the form of Miraculous: Tales of Lady Monarch and Chat Noir (REDUX). You can continue reading this up to the last chapter posted here, but I also strongly recommend going to read my REDUX as well! If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment! I will answer it as quickly as my schedule allows (probably within the same day or tomorrow).Cheers and happy reading!
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi
Series: Miraculous Monarch [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565293
Comments: 273
Kudos: 221





	1. Chapter I : Regrets and wasted time

It has been two years since the disappearance of French actress, activist and philanthropist Emilie Agreste (Graham de Vanily). The details regarding the incident are foggy, the only thing known for sure being that she disappeared while on her second trip to Tibet.

The disappearance of Emilie Agreste has given way to a large scandal as fashion mogul husband Gabriel Agreste, the last person to see Emilie Agreste before her disappearance, has been accused of orchestrating the incident in the first place. Following this the Papillon brand has reported a major sale’s plummet. Mister Agreste has denied all accusations and has also been found not guilty in his trial.

* * *

_Gabriel was standing on the sidewalk with his wife. The whole journey to the airport had been sunny, just like it was supposed to be for an early morning summer day, however the weather had quickly changed, rain starting to pour down. Now Gabriel was looking down at his shoes, noticing with scorn that they were falling victim to the rainwater that slicked the pavement. His gaze was brought up by the musical sound of Em’s giggling, his smile turning with a frown when the happy tune ended with the discordant noise of dry coughing._

_“Are you sure about leaving in this condition?” his concerned voice coming out with a softness reserved for few._

_“I’ll be fine Gabe! No amount of coughing and dizziness will stop me from giving a helping wing to the people.” her voice radiating confidence despite its weakness._

_“I know but maybe you could reschedule and go when you’re feeling better.”_

_“If I start rescheduling then I will never be able to keep on top of my other responsibilities.”_

_Gabriel made a face, his concerned eyes big as plates, something she jokingly called “baby doll eyes”. Em sighed in what seemed to be defeat but her smile said otherwise._

_”Here.” she said, giving him her peacock brooch, an accessory she never took off, wearing it even when she went to sleep._

_“Now you know that I will make it back.”_

_Gabriel gently took Em’s precious brooch and placed it in his suit jacket’s interior pocket._

_“Make sure to phone me and Adrien when you arrive. You know how he gets.”_

_“I know.” she said turning back to gather her suitcase._

_Gabriel turned away and made for the car as the rain got louder. Before he could enter his car however he heard a frightened shout from his wife. Afraid of what had happened Gabriel turned and tried to run toward the scream but was unable to as his feet wouldn’t budge. He looked down horrified by the sight of a pair of hands made out of water that were pulling him downward. Gabriel struggled to no avail as he was sinking in a giant puddle, more hands grabbing onto him and pulling until ice cold water swallowed his legs, then his torso then_ _—_

* * *

Gabriel sat up in his bed, drenched in cold sweat and gasping for air. He was holding his dizzy head into his hands, trying to calm his breathing.

 _This is the 4th time this week._ He bitterly thought to himself. He turned his head towards the digital alarm clock on his nightstand, the red numbers practically taunting him. 4:40. He sinks his head back into his hands rubbing at his eyes and massaging his temples.

_No more sleep tonight._

Gabriel slid out of bed, putting on his slippers, robe and glasses as he made his way towards his bathroom. Once there and in front of the mirror he had a realization : he looked horrible. His mussed light blonde hair had a few white strands, he had dark bags under his eyes and his chin had a lot more stubble than he cared to keep.

_Maybe it’s a good thing that I got up early._ he thought cynically _This mess will take some time to fix… Especially the bags._

After he was done (without the stubble and with a long relaxing bath) he looked at the time. 6:00. Deciding to postpone breakfast, he put on some less conspicuous clothes and went out for a walk.

Author’s notes :

  * It begins! I started to write this fic before watching the full season three finally. Boy was that a mistake! It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, it’s just that my ship was hurt.
  * If you haven’t noticed I’ll say it here, the timeline is slightly changed.
  * I also shifted all the events of my story one year in the future, so everyone is one year older.
  * Yes I now that the English dub says they are in the 10th grade, but in the French dub they are in troisieme(9th grade). I follow the French dub on this one and say that the events of this story take place a year after cannon, in the 10th grade.
  * The personalities of all characters have small alterations because they are older as well as from the other changes I made to cannon.
  * New note! If you noticed, this work is part of a series. That's because there will be a collection of shorts running alongside with the main fic.
  * This fic will be updated every Sunday with a chapter, or there will be a short.




	2. Chapter II : A change in perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of school has come and the adventure will begin! But first, let's get to know a few of our characters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't seen the first short I recommend you watch it since chronologically it comes before this chapter. Also, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. If you don't get a response right away don't worry, as I leave in a different time zone.
> 
> !UPDATE!
> 
> I had to change the time frame in this cause I fudged the original timeline!  
> Marinette ia in her last year of school, meaning that the events take place TWO years after cannon. (Which in the english version is the tenth grade.)

Adrien liked to think he was an optimistic person. Similarly to his mother, Adrien could see the good in people and always wanted to help them become better. However even he had limits, which was why he was running down the sidewalk like a lunatic trying to get to a certain public school.

On the way there he was swamped by a number people who were awake enough to realize who he was. Nevertheless he complied to what they wanted, writing autographs as quickly as possible, in order to get back on track. He almost managed it too, however luck was not on his side today, as he heard a very familiar voice just as he was about to enter the school.

“Adrien! Wait!” Nathalie shouted in her calm manner, concern pouring out from her voice.

“Why? I just want to go to school like everybody else. Is that so much to ask?” asked Adrien already knowing what the answer would be.

“He said yes!”

Or maybe he didn’t.

“He said what now?” asked Adrien, wanting to make sure this wasn’t just him hallucinating what he wanted to hear.

“I talked to him on the phone. He said he will allow it as long as you’re driven to and from here.”

Adrien was stunned. Ever since his mother disappeared a year ago his father had been nothing but stubborn and controlling. Nathalie sure wasn’t the one to convince him since she had tried before. So what changed?

“You should probably go inside Adrien. That is unless you wish to be late on your first day.” said Nathalie, her professional mannerisms being somewhat forgotten as she gave a warm smile at the teen.

Adrien quickly decided to put off his questions for later as he happily made his way inside the school.

* * *

Marinette barely made it to class on time, taking big gasps of air as she reached her desk on the first row.

“You okay girl? You look like you’re about to fall over.” asked Alya, her best friend.

“Alya, I _feel_ like I’m about to fall over!” said Marinette, leaning forward in order to massage her right leg.

 _I overworked it again._ she thought bitterly.

Alya wasn’t too perturbed by her comment. In the previous year Alya had seen Marinette put a lot of effort into walking as she limped from her home to school and back again. Alya had been a new student at Francoise Dupont the year before and had befriended Marinette when their teacher, Miss Bustier, had told the blue haired teen it would be better if she stayed in the first row with her.

Their friendship bloomed in their two years of school and Marinette had opened up enough for Alya in order to answer the most simple yet hardest of questions : “What got you that cane?”

* * *

The story began when Marinette was 13 years old. It happened near the end of the summer vacation (the last month to be exact) and it involved an old building. Marinette was having a relatively normal day until she ran into Chloe, the daughter of the mayor of Paris, and Sabrina, Chloe’s best ‘friend’. The blond rich girl had run into Marinette by accident and decided to “accidentally” knock over the young fashion designer’s sketchbook. She leaned down to grab it, but fell over, as an earthquake started up. By either the cruel hand of fate or pure misfortune a chunk of an old building fell right towards Chloe and Sabrina. Marinette had seen the piece of rock fall towards the two girls and did what she thought was right : run up and push them out of the way. Unfortunately she wasn’t fast enough to dodge the debris herself and her right leg got crushed by it. She had screamed, the pain being unbearable, only able to stay conscious until an ambulance arrived. Everything had been a blur up until she woke up in a hospital bed. In front of her were her parents listening to a doctor as he explained her condition to them. When the doctor had told her parents that using her right leg would forever bring her pain she burst out crying, drawing their attention. Her mother and father had been by her side in a heartbeat and calmed her down. The rest of the month had flown by with Marinette struggling to walk, frustrated at the fact that nobody else had this problem.

* * *

As Miss Bustier entered the class another figure made it inside, one that Marinette didn’t recognize right away.

“Another new student?” Marinette mumbled looking at the blond boy that seemed more familiar by the second. She just had to think a little more to realize who he was.

Everyone was curious about the new blonde teen now standing in the first row next to Nino, even Miss Bustier was a little surprised as she didn’t expect any new arrivals. Everyone’s questions were quickly answered by the explosive reaction of a certain blonde.

“Adrikins!” shouted Chloe, practically throwing herself onto him.

“Chloe would you like to introduce us to your friend?” asked Miss Bustier, stunned by the blondes sudden burst of affection.

“Of course Miss Bustier! This is —“

“Adrien?” Marinette asked in recognition, her memory going back to what happened that morning before she made it to school.

Looking at the room she realized that everyone was staring at her. _Oh come on, I just said his name!_ she thought to herself

“Yes! That’s me!” said Adrien completely oblivious to the atmosphere in the room.

“Well, Adrien, if you are here as a student I suppose we can continue on with our first day. Chloe if you could please sit back down?”

The day went on as usual, well as usual as it can be when a new student pops out of nowhere and another one says their name in a somewhat casual way.

After the classes were done and the lunch bell rang Marinette limped as quickly as she could out of class, Alya following close behind, eager to know why and how Marinette seemed to know Adrien like they were close.

“Adrikins? Does that … girl… know you or something?” asked Chloe, disgusted at the thought of Marinette knowing **her** childhood best friend personally.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember seeing her before… I’ll go ask her if we met before!” said Adrien, interested to know as well. He ran after the two girls who were leaving the school, slowing down as he reached them and making a sign to the Gorilla to leave.

“So! You seem to know me very well. Which is weird considering this is the first time we met.”

“It’s a long story.” said Marinette, not really in the mood to discuss it.

“Well we’ve got nothing but time, so come on girl, spill!” said Alya.

Author’s notes :

  * This story was inspired by “Nymph and the corrupted miraculous” by Child_of_the_Fae and “Flutter” by JelloJolteon.
  * Marinette’s disability was inspired by Gregory House (it's less debilitating but still pretty bad).
  * As of the time I wrote this (a few months ago) I’m rewatching House M.D. I’m really enjoying it!




	3. Chapter III : The world is nothing but coincidences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette knows who Adrien is, as she made the connection way faster than her cannon counterpart. It most likely has to do with that 'long story' she mentioned, so it's time we found out what happened!

Marinette was late, she was **so** late. Yesterday night she was prepared to have a nice sleep, wake up early and make it to school on time but her right leg had other ideas. For most of the night she was kept awake by pain, her only solution being to work herself into exhaustion. What she didn’t take in to account was that she would not be able to wake up until she rested.

As a result she was now moving as fast as her feet allowed her, a croissant in her mouth, cane held close to her chest by her right arm, books and notebooks in her hands as she tried putting them in her school bag. Dodging and swerving through the crowd, she was confident that she would make it. That confidence quickly disappeared as she dropped her cane, books and notebooks on the ground, even managing the ‘impressive’ feat of hitting someone in her scramble to catch the dropped objects.

* * *

Gabriel was walking aimlessly, thankful that he was too lazy to get rid of his stubble, as it made him completely unnoticeable in the early morning crowd. He was **really** regretting his decision to leave the house without eating though. He stopped, taking note of his surroundings, slowly realizing the general direction where he was heading : Francoise Dupont High School. This brought a little frown on his face, remembering the sad expression on his son’s face as he once again had to tell him no on the subject of public school.

_It’s for his own safety. Why can’t he understand that! The people of this world will do anything to boost themselves in the ranks and that includes taking advantage of a young, kind and famous boy like Adrien._

Gabriel sighed, thinking of going back the way he came when his stomach made itself known. Once again realizing where he was, an idea popped into his head.

_Perhaps I can go to that bakery and buy something from there._

As he made his way through the crowd he noticed a very strange sight : a young lady, approximately 15 years of age was **limping** in the direction of the high school, her body language and face expression radiating desperation mixed with confidence. Seeing this he tried to get out of her way in order to not waste both of their times. Fate had other plans however as she dropped her things and bumped into him.

“I’m sorry!” the teen said around a mouthful of croissant.

Gabriel dropped down to help the young girl when he noticed something that left him speechless : an open sketchbook. The sketchbook was nothing special itself but the things drawn in its pages made it a sight to behold. Picking it up Gabriel leafed through the pages, unaware of the girl that recognized him and was now staring at him.

_Suits, dresses, pants, waistcoats, freaking JEWELRY. Who is this girl and how have I never heard of such talent. Every single design in here is so_ _—_

“Inspired…!”

His gaze was brought up by the relieved sigh he heard in front of him, now seeing that the girl was eating her croissant in peace, her bag resting on her back, with all the books inside.

“Here.”

The girl looked up as she grabbed the notebook, a pleased smile on her face.

“You have quite the knack for fashion design Miss…?”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Well then Miss Dupain-Cheng I hope that maybe we will meet again in the future. Maybe you will meet my son Adrien too.”

_Your style would look good on him._ he thought.

“Yep!” Miss Dupain-Cheng said, her urgency quite obvious to the fashion designer.

The two of them were saved from the awkward ‘How-to-leave’ moment by Gabriel’s phone ringing as Nathalie was calling.

“For now I have some other business to attend to, as you may probably as well.”

“Right! I’ll be late for school! Bye Mister!”

Gabriel followed the fascinating young designer with his gaze. Not paying too much mind to the passer-bys that looked at him oddly, he took off his glasses and answered his phone.

“Hello, sir? I regret to inform you that Adrien—“

“Is on his way to school as we speak. I figured that. Tell him I allow him to go.”

“Y-yes sir!” came the surprised voice of Gabriel’s PA.

_That girl had the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and try to set up a meeting in the future, but she was more interested in going to school… Maybe the world isn’t as bad as I thought it to be._ he thought as he made his way to that bakery.

* * *

Marinette couldn’t believe her luck. The day had started out terribly but then she came face to face with her idol. And he **liked** her designs!

_Alya is going to be so happy when she hears about this._

Author’s notes :

  * Little changes can make the biggest ripples.
  * We are slowly getting closer to the action. Just a little bit more and we’ll be there!




	4. Chapter IV : Reasons and reactions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos and hits on this story and the associated collection of shorts! I am always happy to see that people like what I post! Now it's time to get to what we're waiting for : 
> 
> Prepare for some darkness near the end of this chapter, the type of darkness that I mentioned right on the very last tag.

“I told you, you’re amazing girl! Now even the best fashion designer in Paris knows it!” said Alya as she hugged her best friend tightly.

“You must be really, **really** good if you managed to impress father! He has very high standards.” said Adrien.

Alya let go of Marinette and went back to eating her lunch, looking at Adrien when he voiced his question.

“Ok! I get that you met father and that he liked your designs but what does that have to do with letting me go to school? Father never said yes until now. Not even when he was in a good mood.”

“He mentioned that we would meet in the future. Maybe that’s when he changed his mind?” said Marinette, unsure of the reason Mister Agreste let Adrien come to school after fifteen years of having him home-schooled.

Adrien sat there thinking. He was also munching on his first ever packed meal, the very idea of having one making him want to hug his dad more when he got home.

* * *

Chloe was furious to say the least. Her day had turned from normal to excellent when Adrikins showed up at school but then it became horrible when Marinette addressed her childhood in such a casual. When she managed to ask him about that he said he didn’t know and left her with alone to go talk with Marinette and the glasses girl.

And now, after lunch and the other classes ended, it seem like Adrien was avoiding her, trying to get home as quickly as possible, so the best thing she thought of doing was to confront him.

“Adrien, where are you going so quickly? You still haven’t answered my question!”

“Ah … well it’s a bit of long story.” said Adrien, trying to think of a way to tell Chloe what he learned without hurting her feelings.

“So what? Just shorten it and tell me already! Do you know Marinette or not!”

Adrien was very scared because his childhood friend was already angry. His fear doubled when he saw Nathalie approaching them.

Nathalie greeted the two teens, distracting Chloe and giving Adrien hope that he could delay the inevitable for a little longer. Nathalie’s next statement dashed those hopes away.

“I see you’re not with Miss Dupain-Cheng. The young girl with the blue hair and metal cane.” Nathalie looked around for a bit before spotting the person she was looking for, quickly going in the direction she saw the young fashion designer”

“Miss Dupain-Cheng!” she called out.

If Chloe was furious before she was positively infuriated now and so decided to take out her anger in the best way she knew : screaming her lungs out!

”YOU LIED TO ME!! YOU DO KNOW HER!!! WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME ADRIEN!!!!”

Chloe’s screams attracted the attention of everyone that was near. That is to say, anybody in a twenty meter radius heard what the blonde said, including Marinette and Alya who were stopped earlier by a woman dressed in elegant office wear.

The three in question made their way back to Adrien who was trying to calm down and explain the situation to Chloe, who in turn was crying in his arms.

“I just me – she just ran into – I didn’t –“

“Adrien?” interrupted Nathalie, signing to the bodyguard that everything was alright and he should stay put.

Chloe suddenly pushed herself of off Adrien and glared towards the young fashion designer.

“YOU! Not only did you make me feel guilty about that stupid accident but now you’re trying to steal my best friend too!!”

Chloe pushed Marinette to the ground and would have probably started hitting her if not for Alya and Nathalie holding her back.

“LET GO OF ME! SHE IS TRYING TO STEAL MY FRIEND!”

“I’M NOT LETTING YOU HURT _MY FRIEND_ CHLOE!” shouted Alya in response.

Chloe managed to get out of their hold and quickly left. Her escape was followed from a distance by the gaze of girl dressed in orange and grey. An evil smirk adorned her face before going after the blonde, the blue foxtail necklace she wore pulsing darkly.

“Are you alright Marinette?” asked Adrien and Alya in unison as the blogger tried to help Marinette up.

“It seems that your friend has become a lot more violent since the last time I saw her.’ said Nathalie.

“Marinette it’s okay! Everything’s fine! Marinette _you are not there_!”

Nathalie turned towards the blue haired girl and saw that she was still on the ground, shivering and crying, her friend trying to calm her down.

* * *

_Pain_

_Crushed leg_

_Blood_

_Down from_

_forehead_

_Pain Pain Pain Pain PainPainPainPainPainPainPainPainPAIN STOP IT sTOp It sToP stopstopstopstoipstop_

**_S T O P_ **

* * *

“Marinette _listen_ to my voice! You are _not_ back there under the rubble you are right her next to Alya, your friend. The girl you met last year, the girl with orange hair and glasses, the one with all the blogs …”

Marinette gradually calmed down as Alya kept talking, Nathalie and Adrien staying close by, the latter feeling useless for not being able to help. Eventually, Marinette stopped shivering, though she still kept crying, repeating Alya’s name and holding firmly onto her friend’s shirt, the touch and voice reassuring her that everything was fine helping with grounding her back in the present.

Author’s note’s :

  * From what I saw in cannon, Chloe Bourgeois is a static character and nothing can change that. Chloe is one of those characters that will look at the world from her perspective and that’s it. I know that her reaction towards Marinette and Adrien may have been a little too much, but considering her personality and that Adrien kept the truth from her, I can see it as possible and within her character.




	5. Chapter V : Truth is not always subjective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We'll now move away from the main conflict to introduce another character and a bit of their back story!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you once again for the kudos and comments! I hope that this story will go a long way and get to its end, so remember, all forms of media rise and fall based on you guys! It is the fans that inspire creators to keep working on their show, music or even writing!
> 
> With that done it's time for the chapter!

Lila Rossi thought of herself as someone special because of who her mother was. Everyone else didn’t however.

“Your mother is just and ambassador. All she does is go and talk with other ambassadors.” were the words that a 5-year-old Lila heard from her friends. These words would forever change the girl, making her want to shut those people up to have something that would make people see how special she was.

This led a 6-year-old Lila to speak her own ‘truth’. Her mother changed from a simple ambassador and became a more influent person, one who met celebrities and other important people.

However this wasn’t enough either as the people around her still didn’t recognize her importance. So, she changed her ‘truth’ for a second time.

For 8 years Lila Rossi was more important than anybody around her. For 8 years she was friends with royalty, artists, actors and singers, some of them even helping in some significant way. She also had many strange and amazing adventures, she walked all over the world and she herself was amazing :

Lila Rossi was cultured;

Lila Rossi was courageous;

Lila Rossi was a genius;

Lila Rossi was kind;

Lila Rossi was charitable;

Lila Rossi was _Adored_ **!**

All of those things were ‘true’ until she enrolled at Francois Dupont. There she came across an unavoidable obstacle without knowing it.

Lila Rossi had come across many people who tried to make her out to be a liar but she had no problem destroying these pests. That was until she met the unbreakable wall named Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Marinette didn’t seem like a threat on first glance. How could a sweet girl with a limp possibly be a threat? What Lila Rossi didn’t know was that Marinette had the most dreadful of attributes her previous pests had combined in one big cocktail :

Marinette was bold;

Marinette was knowledgeable;

Marinette was quick-witted;

Marinette hated liars;

_Marinette!_ _Didn’t! Back!. Down_ **!**

Anything that Lila Rossi said while Marinette was near would be quickly and mercilessly taken apart and disproven. It took all the intelligence and talent Lila Rossi had just to make sure she wasn’t called out as a liar.

_Why do the useful ones always do this?_ thought Lila Rossi as she followed Marinette to the girl’s bathroom. Once there she tried to make the girl believe she was innocent but quickly changed her tactic when Marinette wasn’t buying it, telling her that she would destroy her if she didn’t stop trying to unmask her. Marinette wasn’t afraid at all however, responding to her threat with :

“I’ll like to see you try Rossi!”

This made her furious and so she quickly made a plan to destroy this stubborn pest once and for all. The plan she came up with was simple : steal and plant the answer sheet to a test in Marinette’s bag, plant an object of hers in Marinette’s locker, determine the teacher to make both girls go to the principal’s office, convince the old fool that Marinette pushed her down the stairs and is bullying her and finally, just to finish her off, accuse her of stealing the object she put in her locker. The plan was perfect. It couldn’t fail!

Or could it?

The plan immediately went off the rails when the answer sheet she planted was missing from the blue-haired pest’s bag. This required Lila Rossi to do some mental gymnastics in order to herself and pigtails to the principal’s office. Once there she managed to make it look like she was pushed down the stairs and injured her knee but when she was telling her sob story the principal wasn’t even able to pay attention! Then she realized why, looking down at her ‘hurt’ knee and seeing the tip of a cane tapping on it. She looked towards Marinette when she spoke.

“You already forgot about the knee, didn’t you?”

This made her lose her cool and go for the only part of her plan that she knew must be intact.

“You know I wouldn’t have done this if you haven’t stolen my grandmother’s necklace!” the necklace ‘from her grandmother’ being inspired by an image she saw in the blue-haired pest’s weird book.

“Your what? I didn’t steal anything from you!”

“YES YOU HAVE! I saw you put it in your locker this morning.”

“Calm down now! The both of you! If you really did see Miss Dupain-Cheng put it in her locker then it must still be there. We’ll just go check and see!”

“But Mister Damocles—“

“Now, now Marinette! If you aren’t guilty then you have nothing to hide.”

Lila Rossi restrained herself from showing her smugness. Even though Marinette managed to derail her plan she was proud at how well she managed to spin it back to where she wanted it to.

The two girls made their way to the locker room, followed by the principal and the rest of their class.

_I’ve got you now Marinette ~!_ she cooed inside her own head as she triumphantly watched Marinette open her locker. Her relaxed demeanor changed to cold fear as she realized the necklace wasn’t there.

“See everyone! Nothing here!” were the proud, _honest_ words spoken by Marinette.

This was how Lila Rossi’s world came crumbling down. Everyone she knew learned about her lies and stopped trusting her entirely. The adoring people she managed to surround herself with were now looking at her with betrayed eyes for the rest of her school year.

This was how Lila Rossi was chosen by an unknown party to wear a blue and black fox tail necklace she found in a white box with cyan Chinese symbols.

Author’s notes :

  * We are slowly reaching the action! Just a bit more patience and we will see the miraculouses put to use!
  * Next time however we are getting a short!




	6. Chapter VI : ‘Mi best frend lives in mi broach!’

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The introduction of Marinette's kwami and the return to the main conflict. There's just two more chapters between this and the one where the action starts to pick up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you once again for commenting, kudos and hits! I plan on getting this fic completed, and I will keep writing as long as you like it!

When Marinette turned four Sabine had decided to gift Marinette two important family heirlooms : a big tome which spoke of magic, heroes and gods and a small purple brooch with big butterfly wings on it.

Both of these heirlooms had made their own respective impacts on little Mari’s life. The tome had sparked a still living passion for fashion and codes in Marinette’s life, while the brooch had given the girl something even more valuable : a friend who always stayed by her side.

This little friend popped up into her life when she put on the brooch. She was in the privacy of her own room at the time and she could only do so much to stop from shrieking with joy at the sight of the little doll-looking being. Nooroo, as this was his name, explained to the little girl that he was a kwami, a being that represented an idea. He also explained how he was connected to and could only talk to Mari through the brooch (“It’s called a Miraculous.”). Marinette was very happy to have Nooroo around her, so much so that she promised to always wear the brooch (“Miraculous.”) and also agreed to never tell her parents about it as per Nooroo’s plea. As she got older Marinette got to learn more about Nooroo, the Miraculouses (“You said the word! Yay!”), and the tome.

Apparently the tome was a list of all the Miraculouses, their abilities, as well as various coded messages that spoke of … something, Marinette wasn’t sure what but she was going to find out … eventually!

Nooroo was a little purple being who really liked forest fruits, had cute butterfly wings, was shy, with formal demeanor, although he sometimes showed enthusiasm at the things that made him happy. Nooroo was the embodiment of the concept of Transmission. The power his miraculous granted its owner was to give power to the pure hearted and turn them into ‘champions’. The user could accomplish this by using the passive power of the magic jewel : empathic psychic abilities ; and through a more active power : infusing the butterflies that came out of the miraculous with magical energy.

That was another new thing in Marinette’s life : the butterflies. They had white wings, they were very energetic and curious, and finally, they were **everywhere** _._ Marinette had to transform her balcony into a garden just to make some space for them. She did this with the help from her parents, in order to buy the necessary materials :

A steel frame (a wooden round bit at the top)

One-way mirrors (for privacy)

Normal, openable, windows (to let the butterflies out if they wanted)

Marinette loved her balcony garden, often going there when she wanted some inspiration or when life got tough after the accident. Nooroo was always there to comfort Marinette when the latter happened. He calmed her down, made her laugh and just tried to bring his young mistress back to reality. There were times when Nooroo saw that her young mistress was saddened, afraid and hurting, but couldn’t do anything because Marinette was in public. Those situations reminded him—

* * *

—of the situation he was in right this moment.

Nooroo was thankful that Alya was by Marinette’s side when he couldn’t. He was thankful that his young mistress had opened up enough to her friend so she could know what to do when needed. Nooroo was relieved when Marinette calmed down, radiating a calm joy to his young mistress as she slept by her friend’s side while they were driven to the bakery.

After Marinette calmed down from her panic attack she swiftly fell asleep in Alya’s arms from a combination of physical and emotional exhaustion. When that happened Alya picked her up and, with Adrien’s help, she put Marinette in his car. The three teens were then driven to Marinettes’s home, the poor girl unable to do anything in her condition.

“Will she be alright?” asked Adrien, concern clear in his voice.

Alya watched the other girl who was sleeping on her lap, listening to her soft snores before replying.

“She will! It’s actually a good thing that she fell asleep.”

“How so?” asked Nathalie from the front seat.

“Marinette doesn’t seem to have nightmares about her accident for some reason. She just has panic attacks. So having her fall asleep means she will probably forget what happened. I think it’s for the best anyway.”

“I agree with the sentiment. Miss Bourgeois acted in a very strange and violent manner compared to when I last seen her.” agreed Nathalie.

“Yeah! I knew Chloe would be a little mad when I would have told her that father was impressed by Marinette but I didn’t think she’d react like that!”

“I did …” said Alya before sighing and pressing onward “I know Marinette will be angry if I do this but I’ve got to give some context.”

“At first Chloe was Marinette’s bully. The reason she stopped bullying her was because of the accident that forced Marinette to use a cane. You see she wasn’t the one that was going to get hurt, Chloe and Sabrina were, but she saved them and in doing so ended up like this. Ever since Chloe backed off, but me and Marinette could tell that she was boiling every time she didn’t get her way because of her.” finished Alya.

“It’s obvious that whatever this unfortunate event was it left her with psychological scars. Did she see a psychologist about it?”asked Nathalie.

“A lot of them at first … but now she doesn’t want to anymore because the ones she went to prescribed her medicine, which she can’t take because they would interact with the painkillers. She’s doing musical therapy and learning the violin along with a few other instruments instead.”

“That sounds nice.” said Adrien, a bit shaken. _The pain must be really bad if she needs painkillers._ he thought to himself as the car stopped next to Marinette’s home.

“I will go inform her parents of what happened.”

“Thanks Nathalie!” said Adrien as he helped Alya with getting Marinette out.

Author’s notes :

  * Marinette was and still is class representative.
  * Marinette has a lot more hobbies and responsibilities than in canon but she keeps up with a lot more grace. (She loves to keep busy.)
  * Marinette is a lot calmer and smarter when confronting liars than in canon. She is calmer in general, resorting to managing her negative feelings through coldness. 
  * Marinette doesn’t take medication for her mental condition but she does sometimes take painkillers for her leg. I can’t remember for the life of me what I used as inspiration for that.




	7. Chapter VII : Volpina and her master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the calm before the storm! Lila is interrupted from something she was doing and is given her mission! What is that mission? You probably know, but for those who don't, you will find out in today's chapter, late edition(TM)!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Today's chapter is a little bit later since this week's schedule was packed with stuff to do! I still wanted to give this though, since I made it my purpose to post a chapter or a short on this every week! Enjoy!

After Lila Rossi received the box with the magical jewel she used it to transform 3 times. The first time was when she received it, to see how she looked like transformed. It wasn’t much : a blue, white and black outfit with a sash. It was quite boring if she stopped to think about it.

The second time she transformed was to see what she could do. Now that part was impressive. Super strength, stamina, agility, the ability to make elaborate and palpable illusions, the ability to become untraceable if she stayed out of view for long enough and a very subtle hypnotic power (which was very finicky). She tested her powers by doing three things : rob a bank, cause some destruction at night and accidentally telling a lie to her mom about how she had a personal project. The last one was how she actually discovered her hypnotic powers, since her mom, who was the curios type, didn’t even question Lila on the project.

The third time she transformed was actually in the present. Lila was following the blonde after she ran away from the scene she caused. She was very eager to use the weak willed girl for a plan to take down Marinette but she was accosted by some creepy monster crawling the side of a building, the acid that was dripping from its mouth almost hitting her.

“Let’s pounce!” she said the words reflexively, her body being overcome by the soothing coldness of the magical energy that transformed her into her super powered self.

“Now, now little fox! Is that any way to greet the person who helped you?” it ( _He?_ ) said in a very deep voice.

“Wha—? Who—? Wait! Are you the one that gave me this thing?” she asked, motioning to the necklace.

“Yes! I wanted to give that as a gift in exchange for your servitude!” he said, and despite the wording she was inclined to listen.

“Ok? What do you want anyway?”

“Oh, nothing much. I just ask for a small favour!” he continued on after it dropped down and bent down, standing at eye level with her.

“I am the guardian of the miraculouses! These are magic jewels that had been used to better the lives of the people throughout all of history. Now that is the intended use for them but sometimes one or two of them fall in the hands of privileged people and they decide to use them for fun, to pretend that they are ‘heroes’ and ‘help’ people. In reality all they are doing is hoarding these magical jewels for themselves instead of giving them to the ones that really need them. Now as a guardian my role is to ensure that the miraculouses are used correctly and to retrieve any of the ones that have been stolen. The latter is where you come in : I need you to make a ruckus to draw out these false heroes and bring their miraculouses back to me! What do you say to that?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not! I already broke into a bank at night a bit ago.” answered Lila.

“Wonderful! All you need to find are 4 jewels : a ring, the cat miraculous, two brooches, the miraculouses of the peacock and butterfly, and finally a pocket watch, the bunny miraculous.”

“Is that all?”

“For now! If I will need your help again I will ask for it. Remember: get me those jewels!” he said as he crawled back up the wall and out of sight.

After Lila made sure the creature that was now her master wasn’t coming back, she decided to change direction and go after someone that will surely get her the attention that would draw out those false heroes. _You may have gotten lucky Marinette, but once I’m done with helping my master I will put my plan into motion!_

Author’s notes :

  * And with this chapter we are setting up the battle to come! After this we will all know who the heroes and villains are.




	8. Chapter VIII : The cat and the aristocrat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A gift from the past is brought to light and Gabriel Agreste's view of the world is drastically changed! 
> 
> The fox makes her move...

Gabriel was sitting in his office chair, his head held in his hands, thinking about what his personal assistant had told him a few minutes ago. When he first came across Marinette Dupain-Cheng he knew that something must have happened to cause the need of a cane, but to think that it was because of someone he, or more specifically, his son, knew was outraging.

_Why are the good people the ones that always have to suffer._

He got up from his chair and walked up to his wife’s portrait taking a long look at it before promptly opening it like a door, revealing a safe. Gabriel input the code to open the safe and, after some hesitation, he withdrew a black hexagonal box with an unknown Chinese symbol painted at the top in red.

Gabriel then closed the safe and covered it back up with the portrait before making his way on the nearest chair.

_“This box may only be opened if you, Adrien or someone known by one of you will have gone through a very bad experience.”_

Gabriel repeated the words spoken by his wife a few more times in his head as he turned the box he had never opened in his hand, examining it.

_If this doesn’t qualify as the condition Em mentioned then I don’t know what does._ He thought to himself before opening it.

Inside the box was shiny black ring. In the middle of the ring, instead of a gemstone sat a disk with four pointed diamond-shaped metal bits resembling cat claws, the only thing that made it stand out was the neon green paw mark in the middle of it.

“What is this? I thought this was something important, not some … tacky ring!” he seethed.

_What can possibly be the reason this ring was so important to you Emilie?_ he asked himself as he took the ring out of the box and put it on.

He looked at it for a few seconds expecting something to happen. Nothing did though and so he lifted his gaze to look at the portrait in thought … and also directly into the eyes of a small, floating, catlike creature.

“I’m hungry!” it said. Gabriel looked back at the ring and noticed how it was no longer the same : the band and diamonds were a shiny grey while the disk turned blood red.

“You said you were hungry?” ask Gabriel after he took a moment to collect himself.

“Yes! Finally someone who gets it!” it responds.

“I’m sorry but, who are you? Where did you come from? **What** are you?” asked Gabriel, flabbergasted by the very idea of this creature even existing.

“Aaand you lost it!” it sighed before continuing “I'm Plagg and I’m hungry! You look like a rich person! You must have some good stuff. Maybe camembert! I’d love some of that right now.” Plagg said as he zoomed around the room, Gabriel hot on his tail.

“This is a very big room! Ooh! Who is this? Someone important by the size of the portrait! Is it a princess?”

“No, that is my—“ he started responding, a bit amused and flustered at the statement.

“Who’s this other kid? You have a bunch of photos of him! He’s like your son or something, right?”

“Yes he’s—“ he tried to respond, hastily making his way to the photos of his son.

“Ooh this is shiny! What is it? It looks weird, is it a support for a canvas? Isn’t that supposed to be white? Are you an artist? CAN YOU PAINT ME?”

“STOP! MOVING!” ordered Gabriel as he caught the little cat in his hands.

“Could I have my camembert now please?”

Gabriel sighed in defeat, letting go of Plagg and sitting back his chair.

“If that’ll stop you from aggravating me!...”

* * *

Gabriel was drinking from his cup of tea, eyeing Plagg as he greedily ate his third camembert roll so far.

“Are you sure you’re not supposed to look like a pig, because you certainly eat as much as one.”

“Oh right! Where are my manners! Here you go!” said Plagg, placing a small piece of camembert on Gabriel’s cup’s plate.

“That’s not what—UGH! Alright you’ve had enough camembert now to answer my questions. Who are you? What are you? Did you come out of this ring? Why—“

“Wow! Wow! One at a time please!” Plagg said, but quickly continued when he saw Gabriel’s death glare.

“As I mentioned before, my name is Plagg! I’m a kwami, a godlike being that was born out of an abstract concept, mine being destruction. That ring you’re wearing is called a miraculous and it allows me to be seen and heard. It can also grant you a fraction of my magical powers to use in order to help people.”

“’magical powers’? ‘help people’? Like some kind of… hero? Is the other one like that too?”

“What other— wait… You mean to tell me that you found both mine and Duusu’s miraculouses!?”

“Who’s Duusu?”

“She’s—!”

Plagg was interrupted when a loud crash that was heard from the second floor of the mansion.

“What was that?”

“ADRIEN!” shouted Gabriel in distress, as his son’s bedroom was on the second floor and the crash could only mean one thing : Adrien was in danger!

Plagg quickly hid himself in one of Gabriel’s jacket’s pockets as he made a mad dash to his son’s bedroom, accompanied on his way by the bodyguard and Nathalie. When the three humans and kwami reached the room they were shocked : the widows looked like they were hit by a boulder, shards littering the floor, removing any doubt that somebody broke them from the inside.

“NATHALIE! CALL THE AUTHORITIES QUICKLY! YOU!” he said, pointing at the bodyguard and getting his attention “GO AND LOOK FOR MY SON!” Gabriel hastily made to leave the room before Nathalie called out to him.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” lied Gabriel, because he knew exactly what to do. He quickly made his way back to his office and locked the doors.

“Plagg!” he whisper-shouted, “Where are you?”

“Right here!” the kwami got out of his little hidey-hole and stood at attention. “It’s hero time!” he exclaimed.

“Yes! Whatever you say! Now tell me how do I make this magic ring work?”

“In order to activate the power you must say ‘Plagg! Claws Out!’—”

“Plagg! Claws Out!”

“WAIT! I WASN’T FINIIIIIIISHEED—“

Everything else Plagg had to say was quickly forgotten as his tiny body was sucked into the ring, facilitating Gabriel’s transformation.

“…Grand-cat … That should work if someone asks for a name.”

Grand-cat, now dressed in a black coat with a furred lapel, white shirt with a bowtie, black dress pants and black boots, made his way to the nearest window before opening it a going out into the city to find his son.

Author’s notes :

  * ~~I like to think that Adrien’s headstrong and impatient personality traits come from his father.~~ Retroactive correction - Adrien's headstrong personality traits come from his mother, not his father. I can still explain Gabriel's own impatience and stubbornness as being caused by spending a long time with Emily though!
  * Next chapter we get to see the one of our title protagonists (Lady Monarch)!!




	9. Chapter IX : Lady Monarch and Grand-cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the Volpina arc begin!

Marinette had had a nice little nap on her way home, waking up in her bed after about two minutes. When she did she noticed that her room was void of her parents or Alya, who would usually fret over and make sure she was alright following one of her episodes, the only one in her room was Nooroo, who snuggled her cheek affectionately. Confused, she made her way down to the living room and noticed her parents sitting in front of the TV, their emotional auras emanating fear and apprehension from their seats as their eyes were glued to the screen.

Marinette quietly made her way behind the couch and looked at the news that were on, immediately feeling the same emotions as her parents. On the news was the Eiffel Tower, but that wasn’t the thing that made her blood run cold. No what did was the fact that on it were two people : Adrien and some girl dressed in a blue fox outfit, the latter holding the former over the edge of the building by a rope.

Marinette made her way back to her room and went up to her garden, locking the trap door behind her to make sure her parents wouldn’t discover something she didn’t want to if they came up to check on her. Nooroo came out of her pocket and said :

“Mis-Marinette! That girl had a miraculous! We need to get it back!”

“And save Adrien. To do that we need to use my miraculous, which means I need the transformation words!” said Marinette with the little excitement she managed to emanate through her tiredness.

“The phrase is ‘Nooroo, fairy wings rise!’ And to detransform you say ’Nooroo, fairy wings fall!’”

“Nooroo, fairy wings rise!”

All the butterflies flew towards Marinette, covering her body, then dispersed to reveal a differently dressed person standing in her place. The first thing that the girl felt was the warmth and strength. Her body felt almost like floating and her mind could feel the dizzying amount of ‘emotional lights’ coming from all of Paris. Her leg pain, tiredness and the remaining feelings from her earlier panic attack seemed like a distant ghost of a dream, as they were replaced with an unmistakable confidence and ease of mind and body that could only come from her kwami. _So this how it feels to be transformed!_ she thought to herself as she took in her changed appearance.

She was taller, due to the soles of the white boots that stopped a bit under her knees. Her svelte frame was covered by a purple tuxedo with four tails. The tuxedo also had large white lapels vaguely imitating the shape of butterfly wings.

On her face was a small, pastel pink mask in the shape of butterfly wings. Under the tuxedo she wore a light pink frilly shirt, a brooch with butterfly wings acting as the top button.

Finally, she wore purple pants and a pair of white gloves on her hands, which held onto a cane with a purple shaft, white tip, a purple gem at the top of its silver handle.

The girl stood there for a moment, as if searching for something, then held out her right hand, one of the butterflies that were flying excitedly around the room landing on it. She then covered the butterfly with her other hand, infusing it with magical energy.

“A courageous, determined and kind girl who knows a lot about heroes. The perfect candidate for my first champion! Fly away my little Fay, and seek out the pure heart of the girl who adores and wishes to be a hero!” ordered the butterfly hero, the Fay leaving through the open ceiling.

* * *

After she helped Marinette’s parents get the tired girl to her bed Alya stuck around for a bit, long enough to catch the news about the villain that appeared in Paris. After she saw what was being broadcast she quickly left the bakery/house of her friend, knowing for sure that if there was a villain present, heroes were bound to show up.

When she got to the scene she hit her first obstacle, the police. Wanting to record the fight that was going to happen between the superhero and supervillain, she looked for a way to get past the authorities unnoticed and found one, making her way closer to the action.

Just as she managed to get in position a black blur landed near the villain.

* * *

Grand-cat made his way through the city, following the police cars that were swarming towards the west side of Paris. He quickly understood the reason when he arrived at the Champ de Mars, his enhanced vision allowing him to see the supervillain that was holding his son hostage, dangling him by the edge of the Eiffel Tower.

Grand-cat made a running jump and cleared the distance between his position and the tower with one big leap, landing safely, if a bit clumsily, near the villain.

“Hey there gramps! You took a while. Did the suffering of this kid mean that little to you? Or are you getting slower because of your age?” Volpina laughed at her own nasty joke, making the motion of removing a tear that wasn’t there.

_You just made a big mistake, you incorrectly colored brat!_

Grand-cat decided to not waste his breath, especially since that jump took a lot of energy out of him, and quickly went on the offensive, pouncing on the startled villain and landing a successful hit. The villain turned into blue smoke the moment Gabriel’s punch connected, confusing the man before being hit from the back by the villain.

“Ahahaha! You should have seen your face!”

Grand-cat pounced on the villain again, only for the same course of events to transpire.

“I think you don’t get it old man, I’m untouchable! No matter how much you struggle to hit me you’ll fail! So how about you stop fighting and give me what I want?”

“Then what do you want?” asked Grand-cat, entertaining the idea that the villain could be reasoned with.

”The ring on your right hand!” said the vixen joyfully.

* * *

Alya was watching breathlessly as the hero went to attack twice and got nothing out of it, the two then paused for a second before going back to the same song and dance, the villain disappearing slightly before the hero landed a hit and reappearing behind him.

_He won’t succeed if this keeps up. If only he didn’t have to do this alone!_ she thought, not taking notice of the gold butterfly that landed on her phone.

Alya stopped her train of thought when she felt a presence in her mind that was not her own. In the first few seconds it was there she could gauge a lot: the presence was cold, calculated and intelligent and yet it emanated compassion and silent **burning** determination, making her feel somewhat calm. That calmness was shattered when a yellow butterfly symbol appeared in front of her face. 

_“Relax! I don’t mean any harm.”_ a soft voice echoed inside her head.

“Who… who are you?” she asked, unsure about the presence but staying calm because she felt somewhat safe.

_“You may call me … Lady Monarch!”_ she stopped for a moment before continuing _“I sent my Fay to you because I felt the need to help inside your soul, the exact feeling I need to make a champion.”_

“You mean you want to make me a hero and go up there to help?!” asked Alya excitedly.

_“Precisely! But I won’t force you if you don’t want to though.”_

“Are you kidding me my lady?! There’s no way I’ll ever pass up a chance like this”

_“Then, Lady Wifi, your mission is to retrieve the fox miraculous, the villain’s necklace. With that out of the way, go and join the fight!”_

A feeling of warmth and confidence enveloped Alya as a white-yellow light rushed from her phone and covered every inch of her body. When the light faded Lady Wifi stood in her place, dressed in a black skintight bodysuit with a pair of blue below the knee boots that had white soles and white bands covering the top of the shafts, red gloves that stopped before the elbow, with white fingers and white bands at the end of the cuffs, covered her hands. A black butterfly mask covered her face, making her shiny yellow eyes stand out; on her chest were three wifi bars and on her waist she wore a thick white belt with a pink power symbol in the middle.

Lady Wifi made a speed up symbol on her phone, sliding it off the screen and making it appear in front of her. She quickly settled onto the symbol and flew towards the fight, the people that were present shouting in surprise when they saw her in the air.

* * *

Volpina was enjoying herself very much, tiring out the old fool, delighted by the sound of his labored breathing. However, as all things must come to an end so did her patience.

“You’re starting to bore me! All you do is attack and attack and attack! You haven’t even tried to go for the hostage, speaking of which!” Lila pounced at the rope by which was dangling Adrien and cut it with her weapon, a dark blue clarinet spear.

“NO!” shouted Grand-cat in distress.

Adrien screamed as he was falling, but shortly stopped, a light pink pause symbol appeared in front of him.

* * *

“How about we pause that? Or better yet, let’s go back!” quipped Lady Wifi, making a rotating motion on her screen, resulting in Adrien screaming and falling in reverse.

Volpina growled at the newcomer, jumping away as she came close and shot a bunch of pause symbols at her. Grand-cat ran over and got Adrien out of the bindings and back on solid ground. While this was happening Lady Wifi made a camera symbol and some open lock symbols, sending the latter towards all the exits while keeping the former above the air, in the upward left corner of the phone screen appearing the same camera symbol.

“Run! Quickly!” ordered the hero and champion to the blond.

Adrien didn’t need to be told twice, dashing away from the three super powered individuals and making his way towards the stairs, the lock symbols changing to locked after he went past them.

“Who are you?”asked Volpina and Grand-cat at the same time.

“I’m Lady Wifi and I’m here to make you the most hated person on the internet!” said Lady Wifi. A yellow butterfly symbol appeared on her face and disappeared after a few seconds. “Oh! Also, my lady says you should check your pockets Wildcat!” added the champion with a whisper.

Volpina took note of the lock symbols in the air, Grand-cat taking advantage of the distraction by pooling out a staff from one of his pockets and extending it towards her, finally landing a successful hit. Lady Wifi followed up with a cover fire of pause symbols, only stopping to look down at her phone after it beeped. 

“What the—?” Lady Wifi just now noticed that on the sides of her screens were white dots, 3 on the right and 4 on the left. The butterfly appeared on her face again.

_“My powers have a limit Lady Wifi : I can only stay connected to my champion for eight minutes, after that I cannot provide any more guidance. So I’ve taken the liberty to sync up my timer with the one on your phone.”_

“Got it my lady! Eight minutes then you’re gone!”

Lady Wifi got back on her impromptu hover board and resumed her attack, making sure to not hit her cat partner as he utilized his staff in order to hit the fox villain. Despite how tired he seemed, the cat hero was doing really well to keep himself away and direct the fox towards the pause symbols with the help of his extendable staff. Unfortunately for the both of them, the vixen villain still had energy to spare.

Grand-cat and Volpina were stuck in another dance now, one where he would dodge and circle her before occasionally attempting to hit her with his staff, the vixen villain jumping away, only to get back in since getting too far from him meant Lady Wifi had a clear shot at her. The only reason they hadn’t gotten her yet was because they weren’t too well synced. Lady Wifi was very fast with her attacks and repositioning, while the cat hero was taking his time.

_This is not going to work out._ thought Lady Monarch to herself as she watched the fight from her champion’s eyes.

* * *

Volpina was beginning to get tired, having to constantly dodge Lady Wifi’s rapid-fire shots and the cat as he was swinging some staff he pulled out of nowhere. Realizing that she was going to lose if things went on like this she jumped away, putting some distance between herself and the heroes while making sure that the flying one couldn’t get her without hitting the cat. Once the flying one settled on the ground she gasped for air giving her burning lungs what they wanted.

“Hey Fox villain! Are our attacks too much for you? Or is your untrained body failing you?” said Grand-cat, indulging in some battle banter himself.

“I’m not just ‘The fox villain’! I AM VOLPINA! AND YOU WILL REGRET NOT HANDING YOUR MIRACULOUSES OVER WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE!” screamed the now-named Volpina before orange light covered her form, making her disappear and reappear away from the Eiffel tower, all locksymbols becoming unlocked before fading away.

“Get back here!”

Grand-cat prepared himself to follow the villain before a hand rested on his shoulder. He turned around to look at Lady Wifi whose kind face had the yellow butterfly symbol visible again.

“Let her go! She’ll come back! And when she does you’ll be there to stop her, Mister…?”

“Grand-cat. And no I won’t be there. I’m too old for the duty of hero, I’ll have somebody else follow up on my performance. Thank you for your help Lady Wifi and good day to you!” He said, attempting to leave.

“Do you even know how to turn back?” asked the champion.

“No…” answered the cat hero. He was too tired to think about his pride at the moment.

“My lady figured as much. The detransformation phrase is… ‘Plagg, claws in!’? Seriously? As transformation phrases go, that’s pretty cheesy.” Lady Wifi snickered at something her lady said before the beep on her phone alerted her that there were only three minutes left of the transformation. She looked up to say goodbye to the cat hero, only to see that he was already gone.

“Man! He pulled a Knightowl on me!”

_“Yep, this is not going to work.”_ said Lady Monarch.

“What?” asked the champion.

_“Nothing, I’m just speaking my mind. Can you let me speak to the people below before our timer runs out?”_ As if to make a point the phone beeped again to indicate there were only two minutes left for her transformation. 

Lady Wifi sighed and did as she was told, then, as if she already knew how, she cupped her hands in front of her mouth before opening them and letting a yellow shiny fog form into butterflies and then into a giant head.

“People of Paris! I am Lady Monarch! What you saw today was your first villain attack and it surely won’t be the last. But fret not! I, along with the next cat hero and a Parisian empowered by me, will make a stand as your protectors and strive to capture this ‘Volpina’! I promise you this!”

The butterflies then dispersed as Lady Wifi came back down to the ground, landing next to Adrien, who was being checked by the paramedics. A light encompassed her entire body, Lady Wifi becoming Alya again, who was kind of bummed that her time as a hero was over. The next thing she knew, she was swamped by reporters, the authorities trying and succeeding in getting to Alya and calming down the mob down.

“Lady Wifi! What do you have to comment about your temporary time as a superhero?!” asked one of the reporters. Alya looked at her phone for a second, seeing that the recording she made as Lady Wifi was still there.

“Well …”

Author’s notes :

  * I looked up boots’ and gloves’ ‘anatomy’ for describing Lady Wifi’s outfit.
  * If you were wondering about Lady Wifi’s extra abilities, I always thought that the various akumas had limited power sets due to the butterfly miraculous being used incorrectly. And so, if the miraculous is used like it’s supposed to, the various empowered people will have more diverse abilities depending on the person. Some champions will even have completely different abilities in the future.
  * I didn’t originally intend to make Gabriel Agreste the cat hero, but then, when I was writing I thought it would be cool to have him be a hero temporarily, so I came with up the idea that Lila Rossi would kidnap the son of the most famous fashion mogul in Paris.
  * The 8 minutes thing is a headcannon I made up. The timer only starts once a champion is formed and while the champion will still be active after the 8 minutes they won’t turn back until Lady Monarch is active again to undo the enchantment. The reason I did this is because the butterfly miraculous has only 4 wings that could disappear and I didn’t want the timer to be less than 5 minutes.




	10. Chapter X : The aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what it says in the title!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Sunday, another chapter! Thank you once again for giving kudos and for commenting!   
> Bonus points for who remembers this: 'Your a bender Harry!' - Gandalf
> 
> Anyway, see you guys next update!

Gabriel quickly circled back once he thought he was far enough, transforming as he was making his way to the Eiffel tower. He spotted the bodyguard and personal assistant sitting right next to Adrien, the boy talking to the hungry vultures that constituted the press. Next to him was Miss Dupain-Cheng’s friend, dressed in casual attire, who was responding to the questions presented to her.

Gabriel went round, making sure to not be noticed by the press, and came from behind the ambulance, the vultures screaming at the sight of him.

“MISTER AGRESTE! DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY REGARDING YOUR SON’S KIDNAPING BY VOLPINA?!” asked one of the vultures over the noise of all the other.

“No comment!” he responded before turning to Nathalie.

“We’re going. Take the girl too, if I'm remembering correctly she’s Miss Dupain-Cheng’s friend.”

“Yes sir.”

Nathalie motioned to the bodyguard to get the two teens away from the vultures before going to walk next to Gabriel.

“Where were you? I looked for you before leaving with the bodyguard but you weren’t anywhere and your office doors were locked.”

“I… needed some time to compose myself.”

 _That was the best you could come up with Agreste?!_ he scolded himself.

Nathalie eyed him suspiciously but did not raise any questions. The three adults, and two teens entered the car parked a short walk away and drove off towards Alya’s place to drop her off. Gabriel took out a small paper bag from his left suit jacket pocket and noisily placed it in the right one, hoping to all the saints that Plagg will eat quietly.

“This is the second time today that I’ve been in private car, now after I’ve held an interview. I feel like a celebrity!” said Alya excitedly.

Gabriel did not pay too much mind to the blogger, his attention laser focused on his son.

“Are you alright Adrien?” he asked, trying to not show too much concern in front of the other teen.

“Yes father. I’m alright.” Adrien didn’t look at Gabriel, his sad voice answering a question he did not ask.

_He thinks I will stop him from going to school again…_

A small battle was held inside Gabriel: should he follow his heart and reassure his son that he won’t take him off from school, or should he follow his head and wait until the other passenger leaves. In the end his heart won and he made the most vague comment he could to clue Adrien in on his decision.

“You don’t have to worry about any changes in your itinerary Adrien.”

Adrien moved slightly, indicating that he heard and understood the message. With that mission accomplished Gabriel turned and looked out the other window of the car, his left hand absentmindedly fiddling with the ring on his right. The short journey was spent in solemn silence, the occasional excited sound coming from Alya as she tipped on her phone.

Once they arrived at the destination and Alya got off, Adrien turned to his father, eyeing him before asking:

“Did you really mean it? You will not take me off of school?”

“No. It has come to my attention that the danger I was thinking about is not as prevalent. There is another danger though, in the form of this villain, and I no longer think it is a good idea to keep you isolated.” he responded, having stopped fiddling with the ring in order to not attract attention to it.

“Thank you father!” Adrien hugged Gabriel and he wrapped his right arm around his son in return.

* * *

Marinette went down to the living room, pretending to have slept through the whole ordeal when she met her parents downstairs. She listened patiently, trying not to laugh, as her parents recounted the events that had transpired. Marinette later got a call from Alya as she was working on her homework, the excited blogger saying much of the same just from her own perspective and with many more details. After she was finished with homework and talking to Alya, she changed into her pajamas and unceremoniously dropped on her bed, tired by today’s events, Nooroo eating berries next to her.

“That was some first day of school, right Nooroo?”

“It really was, especially with that strange villain showing up. Her miraculous was pretty strange too… That is a very bad omen for our future.”

“I noticed that too. Volpina was all black and blue, the complete opposite colors of a fox. What do you make of that?”

“I remember seeing this once before, a very long time ago. I don’t remember much though, sorry.” Nooroo shied away a bit after he spoke his answer, disappointed that he couldn’t provide answers for his young mistress now turned hero. Marinette noticed this and quickly dashed her kwami’s insecurities aside, petting his head with two of her fingers.

“It’s okay my Cinnamon roll, you don’t need to have all the answers.”

Yawning, Marinette decided it was time to turn in for the day. She turned off the lights, and snuggled under her blanket, Nooroo moving to his own tiny pin cushion bed to sleep.

* * *

Gabriel was sitting in his bedroom watching TV, sleep not coming in the slightest. By his side stood Plagg, also watching what was on TV.

“You know Gabe, you didn’t have to feed me in the car, I could have waited till we got home.”

“Don’t call me that…” spoke Gabriel, the nickname bringing painful memories to the surface.

“Sorry boss!” he stopped for a moment, unsure, before continuing.

“… So! What happens now? To me I mean. You made sure to announce your early retirement. You know, you’re one of the shortest lived owners I ever had and that’s saying something considering I used to work with Jane—“

“I don’t know!… All I wanted was to save my son but that villain got under my skin and I completely forgot why I was there in the first place. If it weren’t for that other hero, Lady Wifi, my son would have died.” small tears started trailing down his face as he was unable to stop them. Plagg gave his way of encouragement.

“Hey, don’t downgrade your performance! You were pretty good for your first time! Trust me I had worse. Thomas was pretty bad at fighting when he first started too.”

“… I have no idea who you’re talking about but I appreciate that you’re trying to cheer me up… That’s it!”

Gabriel hastily exited his bedroom, picking up the hexagonal box that was standing on his nightstand. Plagg followed him, confused, until they arrived at a door on the second floor.

“I don’t get it. You said ‘cheer me up’, what’s that about?”

“My son, Plagg. Ever since Emilie died he has been very sad. The fact that I was keeping him isolated in order to ‘keep him safe’ didn’t help things either. Not only was he more sad but he also got kidnapped by a villain today **because** he was here.”

“So? What does that have to do with me?”

Gabriel sighed before spelling it out for the little god.

“My strict parenting is causing more problems than good, but I can’t just ease up on him because all that freedom will get to his head. The cat miraculous would give him freedom without turning him into some delinquent.”

“But having the cat miraculous would mean going out doing superhero work. Wouldn’t that put your son in **more** danger?”

“Yes but think about it from this angle: he would be able to fight back, hopefully capture the villain and putting an end to this whole story. He will also learn subtlety and put that brain of his to work for something else besides his studies and that’s besides the fact that being a hero is a full time work out.” he said, remembering how tired and sore he felt some time after coming back home.

Plagg looked from Gabriel to the door to the kid’s bedroom before sighing.

“I don’t get a say in this, do I?”

“Nope!”

Gabriel removed the ring, making Plagg disappear, put it in the box, then stealthily came into Adrien’s room and deposited the box in his school bag.

* * *

Lila Rossi was frustrated with herself. She had the chance to take the ring but couldn’t be bothered to do it because she was having fun. To make matters worse the other hero showed up and made a fool out of her. And to top it all off her master was probably going to come and take back her necklace because of her miserable failure.

These were the worries that swarmed in Lila’s head as she made her away back home. When she arrived at her house’s door she went to open it but the key wouldn’t turn, making her blood run cold. Fearing the worst she put her hand on the handle, turned it and pushed, becoming even more terrified when the door opened.

Lila observed that her home was not basked in darkness either, but rather had a brown hue to it, a white-brown light coming from her room.

She gulped down her fears and peered through the door, slowly entering her room.

“Interesting.” said a voice, startling her, her instincts telling her to kneel.

“You have such a kind mother and yet you feel unfulfilled, alone, **unloved**.” he said turning to her and dropping the photo with her and her mother that she kept in her room.

“Please forgive me! It wasn’t my fault! They ganged up on me! I’ll do better next time, I promise!”

“Be careful what you promise Volpina. You were not ready to face off against your adversaries, I see that now. You need guidance, which I am willing to give if you’re willing to listen.”

“You mean you aren’t going to take the necklace back and then possibly kill me?” she looked up, hopeful.

The figure snickered, Lila only now noticing that he didn’t look like before : he didn’t have his tail, acid wasn’t spilling from his mouth and he was smaller, yet towering over her nonetheless.

“No, I won’t ‘kill’ you. And I definitely won’t take away my gift to you just because you failed me once. You’ll have other opportunities to fight them and get back what was stolen from me. Your road will be long Volpina, but you will eventually reach a point where you’re more skilled, smarter, **stronger**. But for now you need to sit down as I have some things to explain to you about the cat and butterfly miraculouses.”

He motioned for her to sit down on her bed and she did, a determined inferno burning in her eyes as she listened to his explanations.

Author’s notes :

  * We finally reached the end of the beginning part, now it’s time to move on to the second part and enter territories closer to cannon.
  * Onward to ‘Some Fox villain' arc!
  * I’m really having fun with this fic and I promise to keep it up.
  * ~~I also found out that writing fight scenes is hard. You have to make sure it’s not too short, but that it doesn’t drag on either; you have to keep the balance between dialogue and action; finally you have to make it fun and make sure everyone can imagine what is happening. I’m not sure if I will be able to keep it up, but I’ll try.~~ I'm currently rewriting some fight scenes to make 'em better.
  * Regarding the two names Plagg mentioned, I have another headcannon: when a previous holder of a miraculous dies the kwami can speak their name since it won’t affect them anymore. The two people Plagg mentioned are Lady Jane Grey and Thomas Telford, two historical figures that fit well as the cat miraculous holders in my opinion.




	11. Chapter XI : Ironheart and enter Chat Noir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A whole day passes after Volpina makes her first appearance! Now, she shows up again to cause some more havoc! Who will stop her? (You can probably see it in the title.)

The second day of school came and when Marinette arrived she made her way towards class through the courtyard, which was filled with teenagers talking about Monarch and yesterday’s events. Marinette reached her classroom and noticed that her classmates were, inevitably, talking about the same thing, their ‘emotional lights’ radiating glee, curiosity, anticipation and hope, all except for one.

The young fashion designer’s stomach churned when she felt Lila’s ‘emotional light’, a feeling she also felt all day yesterday. Last year Lila’s ‘emotional light had been filled with hurt, radiating frustration and anger due to the fact nobody trusted her after her lies were exposed. Today, and probably yesterday too now that she thought about it, Lila’s ‘emotional light’ had been different : cold, uncaring, distant, stiff, **dead**. Those feelings were wrong, **backwards** , and they almost made her feel sick. Fortunately, Lila’s ‘emotional light’ wasn’t radiating much, another sign that something was clearly wrong with the girl, and the rest of the class radiated enough normality to counter the effects.

Marinette sat down at her desk next to Alya, who wasted no time in telling about an interesting new project. It was called ‘Butterfly-cat’ hero app. Apparently she and Max decided to do a collaborative effort and make a free app for the people of Paris in order to lighten the load of the heroes. The app was going to be used by everyone and it would alert the heroes in the case the villain is spotted. _That’s good._ thought Marinette. What she didn’t like was Alya’s blog, which was called ‘Butterfly-cat News’, the name going hand in hand with the app. That was going to be the beginning of an enormous headache, Marinette knowing she would have a hard time keeping Alya in check, as the other girl had her way of relentlessly getting very important (and **factual**!) information on whatever she chose to research.

“… I’ll try to get a leg up on reporters when it comes to getting info about my lady—“

“’my lady’?”

“Yeah, **my lady**! Anyway, in order to do that I was thinking a little extra help will be needed… and who better to ask than my best friend!” Alya looked intently at Marinette as she said all this, her big smile becoming a little stiff and her ‘emotional light’ radiating apprehension at the last statement.

Marinette went blue screen at what she heard her friend suggest.

_All right Marinette!… You have to sell this properly or you will make her suspicious._

“Alya… you know I can’t! My agenda is already full!”

“I know but think about it! You will be able to put up info about the heroes and their miraculouses!—“

“… How did you learn that?” Marinette’s eyes shifted across the classroom before saying in a lower voice “Also I thought we agreed to never speak of that again. Not after what happened last year.” Marinette subtly glared in Lila’s general direction.

“I know.” responded Alya in a lower voice as well “But your book contains info about the miraculouses. If we could get that on my blog we’ll be huge!”

“Out of the question! Doing that would also mean losing the tome to the public. I already have Alix’s dad on my case about giving away the ‘scrolls’ to the museum, not to mention that all my research would be in vain. On top of that, having the tome in a museum would make it easy for the villain to steal it, since she’d know where to search for it.”

“Fine, but can you at least help me with my blog. I promise to help you with your research in return.”

“…deal. But only if you’ll follow my schedule as well!”

“Deal! But you’ll go easy on me when I babysit right?” Alya made the ‘baby doll eyes’.

“I thought your sisters liked the Louvre!” Marinette joked, making Alya laugh.

“Hey Alya! Marinette! Nino! Yesterday was pretty hectic wasn’t it?”

The two girls turned their attention to Adrien as he sat down next to Nino. Alya gave Adrien a knowing look before saying.

“I’m happy to see that your father considered not making ‘any changes in your itinerary’ Adrien!” Adrien became a little sheepish at that comment, Nino picking up on what Alya meant.

“Dude! Your old man was thinkin’ of taking you off of school?”

“That’s what I thought. Father has been pretty overprotective and controlling of me ever since mom disappeared. Only now he’s starting to become less of a control freak, and it’s all thanks to you Marinette.” said Adrien, his ‘emotional light’ radiating fondness. Marinette was not concentrated on that though, but on the silver ring that snugly fit on Adrien’s right ring finger.

“And **Marinette** is very happy that she managed to help you, **right** Marinette?”Alya bumped the other girl’s elbow making her jump before responding.

“Yes! I’m very happy that that happened Adrien! By the way, when did you get a ring? You didn’t have that last time.”

Nino face-palmed, not believing what was happening at the moment. Alya just sighed, thinking that Adrien was wasting his time with the girl that held information and fashion above anything else. Adrien stiffened a bit at the question before regaining his cool and responding.

“Oh this thing … The Gorilla gave it to me. He said it’s a good luck charm to keep me safe.” lied Adrien, thinking back to what actually happened.

* * *

Adrien was in his room, looking over the mysterious box he found in his bag.

_I could throw it away. Who knows what I’d find inside. And considering what happened yesterday … Aw screw it I’m too curious._

Adrien opened the small box, a green light blinding him before he could get a good look at the object inside. When he opened his eyes he saw a tiny black cat floating in front of him.

“Hi! I’m Plagg! I’m guessing you know what this thing is?” Plagg said motioning to the ring inside the box.

“Do I?” Adrien giddily took out the ring on put it on her right ring finger, not caring in the slightest that he looked like a kid who ate too much candy.

“THIS IS SO COOL! How do I turn it on? What powers do I get? Are they the same as the ones Grand-cat had? Will I really be a superhero? —”

“Whoa there kid! He wasn’t kidding when he said you’ll be a good fit. Excitable goofball like you will pick up on this hero stuff in no time! But until it comes to that how about we get to know each other while you prepare for school. Maybe you could even get some camembert for the road?” said Plagg, batting his short eyelashes in a cute way.

The grin on Adrien’s face faltered, suddenly thinking that this was less cool than he originally imagined.

* * *

Everyone got seated and quieted down when their teacher came in. Marinette tried her hardest to pay attention, and even responded a few times, but her mind was elsewhere, specifically on Ivan, the shy boy who liked to listen to rock music. The reason for this was his ‘emotional light’ being more stressed than normal. When class finally ended fury came up on Marinette’s radar.

“Those of you who have P.E., Mister D’Argencourt is expecting you at the stadium. The rest of you can head over to the library.” announced Miss Bustier.

“Kim!”

Ivan, the source of said emotion, abruptly got up from his seat and attempted to punch Kim.

”Ivan, what is going on?”asked Miss Butier.

“It’s Kim I’m so gonna get…”

“Ivan, go to the principal’s office.”

Lila smiled darkly, getting up from her seat and gathering her things. Marinette noticed this and intervened.

“It’s alright Miss Bustier, I’m on it!”

“Alright Marinette!” responded Miss Bustier, confident in the class’ representative’s behavior correcting abilities. Lila smile turned even bigger as she came up to Kim.

“Let me guess? Kim said something bad in that note.”

“It’s a bit personal…”

“Ok then, but it’s either this or go to the principal. If it’s personal I think it will be pretty embarrassing to have Mister Damocles know about it.” Marinette reasoned, fully knowing that this argument would change his mind. Apparently it worked, because Ivan nodded and handed Marinette the ball of paper.

“’You’re too much of a wuss to tell Mylene how you feel!’… If you don’t know how to approach Mylene then I can give you a few tips.”

Ivan nodded, radiating hope.

“First things first, no talking!” she began, causing surprise in Ivan, some tension leaving his shoulders at the same time, something Marinette predicted would happen. “I know you’re not the best when it comes to talking so you should try to get her attention in other ways : buy her flowers, draw her a picture…”

“I could… write her a song?”

A few steps behind the too, Adrien stood at attention, his ears peeled. Alya and Nino noticed this and reacted in their own ways: Alya shook her head and Nino snickered. 

“Yes, that’s a perfect idea! What girl wouldn’t want a love song written specifically for herself? Go for it Ivan!”

“Marinette is the exception here.” said Alya, Nino beginning another round of laughter.

“What? I wasn’t listening—Were you listening? I wasn’t listening!” responded the blond defensively.

“Marinette is not like other girls. She used to be, but… you know!” said the blogger as she discreetly pointed to Marinette’s metal cane.

“Aw, come on! You could have some faith in Adrien here. Maybe he’ll be the first one to make ripples on the surface of the calm lake.”

“There’s no way dude! She’s just too impenetrable!”

“Guys, I haven’t even tried yet to do anything yet!” grumbled Adrien, suddenly becoming very shy. He, Alya and Nino perked up at the sound of Marinette’s voice.

“Come on slowpokes, get a shift on! Or else I’m gonna get to the library first!”

Alya and Nino started to move faster, snickering like small children, Adrien following after them, not really sure what the funny thing was.

* * *

Ivan considered himself pretty lucky today. He got some good advice on how to reveal his feelings to Mylene and he had enough inspiration to get the song down on paper without making too many changes. Now all he had to do was sing it and everything would be perfect.

“Oh no! I’m going to be so late!”

“Mylene!”

“Ah, Ivan you scared me!”

“I made this for you!”

Ivan starts up some heavy metal on his phone and begins to sing his song. Unfortunately his **unique** delivery was too much for Mylene, and so she ran away, scared. Ivan stopped singing and called out to Mylene before balling up the piece of paper and slumping against the wall.

_That’s what you get for following that stupid pigtails’ advice. Now let’s see how much help she’ll be when I steal your loved one away_. Lila thought to herself, looking out from the corner, before leaving and transforming into her supervillain persona.

* * *

Chaos surged in the school once Volpina hit the scene, as she blocked all the exits of the school and took Mylene away. Everyone in the school panicked, except for three people : Alya, who was excited to that she was so close to the fight and could get it on video, unlike the last one, where she needed to use magic, Marinette, who left the group to find a spot where she could transform, and Adrien, who did the same.

_Oh no you don’t! You won’t sneak away that easily Marinette!_ thought Volpina, noticing Marinette trying to hide. She sent some illusionary bullets her way, which she noticed but couldn’t move out of the way fast enough. Fortunately she was saved by a black blur. Volpina had a good idea who that blur was and continued firing, not stopping until they were out of sight.

“Are you alright princess?” asked the figure once they were safe. Marinette’s face was unimpressed and yet curios.

“I am! Who are you? You don’t look like the cat hero. Are you his apprentice by any chance?” Asked the young fashion designer. The figure dropped her down and smirked.

“Name’s Chat Noir and I’m more of a follow up to him! I didn’t expect to save a cute girl such as yourself on my first outing but eh! Things happen! You should probably find a place to hide. Foxy over there seems determined to take you out.” he said before kissing her hand and taking off.

Marinette looked at the new cat hero for a little bit longer, remembering what she had to do, and made her way to the nearest lockable room. She then unzipped her fanny pack and let Nooroo out.

“Volpina’s definitely someone we know… First she kidnaps Adrien and now she tried to turn me into Swiss cheese.

“Maybe she just stalked you and found out where you are at school. You should probably help Chat Noir though. This is his first time acting as a hero as far as we know, so he might need some back-up.”

“<Snicker> Lady Monarch the **pro** will surely help! Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” said Marinette. Nooroo entered the brooch and the magical energy changed Marinette into Lady Monarch, the hero holding her hand up in the air as her magical cane manifested. She twirled it a few times before she placed its tip on the ground and leaned on it as she looked for a potential champion, smiling when she found one.

“A Romeo seeing his Juliet in the clutches of an evil being… Better scenarios only exist in fairy tales!” She said as she opened the top part of her cane, letting one of her butterfly to land on her hand. She charged the butterfly with magical energy and sent it on its way with the following command:

“Fly away my little Fay, and strengthen the pure heart who seeks to save his Juliette!”

* * *

“Hey Foxy don’t you think bullets are a bit bad for a PG show?!” quipped Chat, getting Volpina’s attention.

“What the—? Another one? I swear to god you superheroes multiply like bunnies. Who the hell are you?”

“Language Foxy! Also didn’t you hear: Grand-cat retired. I’m his caretaker, Chat Noir, but you can call me Kirby!” responded Chat Noir before dodging some illusionary shurikens.

“Great! The first one barely talked and you have too much lip! What is my life right now?!” Volpina was starting to question her sanity as she shot more illusionary projectiles Chat Noir’s way.

_Magical jewels, a guardian who looks like a scorpion, COSTUMED SUPERHEROES! Seriously what the f—_

* * *

Ivan was watching the fight from down bellow as Chat Noir was slowly getting closer to the vixen villain, a hurricane raging inside his soul.

_Mylene wouldn’t be up there if I were gentler with my singing! Now she’s in trouble and I can’t help her!_

Ivan’s eyes caught sight of a small yellow butterfly coming his way. Having a pretty good idea about what it was, he stretched out his hands to catch it. The butterfly landed on the balled up piece of paper in his right hand and got sucked inside of it. A feeling of calmness and confidence nestled in him, accompanied by a yellow butterfly symbol appearing in front of his face.

Monarch decided to do a little experimenting this time, beginning in a different way.

_“Greetings Ironheart! I am Lady Monarch You may have failed at winning over your Juliette’s heart but that doesn’t mean you can’t be her knight in shining armor,_ _now does it?”_

“No my lady it doesn’t!”

“Then prepare yourself! Just remember that in return you must acquire the foxtail necklace Volpina wears and hand it over to my partner, Chat Noir.”

“I will!” said Ivan, the white-yellow light enveloping his body and changing him.

* * *

Chat Noir was getting closer to the Volpina, the villain starting to send bigger projectiles in the hopes of pushing him back. She gave a triumphant shout when she managed to nail him with an anvil, sending him right back down to the courtyard, her blood running cold when she saw the champion Monarch had prepared for her.

Chat grunted in pain, the anvil having dissipated upon impact but the force still affecting him. He looked up when he noticed a shadow standing over him and what a sight he saw : a giant metal golem, with rounded shoulder-pads, muscular body, light blue eyes, a large rounded jaw and what looked like a roman helmet crest on his head.

“VOLPINA!” roared the hulking beast as he was making his way over to the villain’s elevated position.

_“Wait Ironheart! You’re too heavy to be up there, you’ll damage the roof. Ask my partner to bring Volpina down!”_

Ironheart turned to Chat and picked him off the ground.

“AHHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“LADY MONARCH SAID GO GET HER!” roared Ironheart, launching Chat towards the villain with his left hand.

Volpina dodged out of the way and attacked Ironheart with her clarinet, a loud sound reverberating from the blow and making everybody wince.

“HA! Got you! said Ironheart, his hand holding Volpina in a secure grip. Volpina retaliated by sending a canon ball Mylene’s way, Chat unable to do anything because he was still reeling from the noise. Ironheart dropped the villain and with a roar of defiance caught the projectile from midair.

_“Be careful Ironheart! Your body converts force into sound and my partner has sensitive ears.”_

“Sorry my lady! I’ll be more gentle!” he said, mindful of his volume. “Let me help you down Mylene.” He put his hand next to the roof, making as much of a happy face as he could at the moment.

“Ivan?” asked Mylene as she seated herself on his hand. The golem shook his head.

“No, I’m Ironheart now! Lady Monarch gave me the power to keep you safe.” He put her down gently.

“SORRY TO BREAK UP SUCH A WONDERFUL MOMENT IRONHEART BUT WE’RE GONNA LOSE HER!” shouted Chat Noir before going after Volpina.

“Stay here! You’ll be safer.” said Ironheart before leaping into the air after the villain, not noticing the beeping that came from his right hand.

The two heroes were trying to catch up to Volpina, Chat by running on roofs and Ironheart by running on the road and occasionally leaping when the other two were getting too far. Chat managed to get the advantage when he extended his staff and vaulted over Volpina, extending it some more and batting her right into Ironheart’s clutches. Volpina played a few notes on her clarinet, causing a big blue cloud of smoke to blind cover her. From of the smoke jumped out a bunch of Volpinas all going in different directions.

“Hey no fair! Since when is shadow clone jutsu allowed?” asked Chat, extending his staff again and perching on it to see if there was a pattern to the madness or if Volpina was just trying to run away. He smirked when he noticed that all the clones were going to the stadium.

“Ironheart, she’s going to the stadium! Let’s follow her and corner her there!”

The butterfly symbol flashed in front of the golem before he responded.

“My lady says it might be a trap.”

“Then you take the shorter route and catch her off guard.” Chat Noir said, going after the villain.

_“Ironheart, please try to guard Chat Noir! It’s only his first day and I don’t want a replacement for someone that fits!”_

“Don’t worry my lady I’ll keep yourpartner safe!” responded Ironheart, taking the shorter route. His response made Lady Monarch smile. Her moment of happiness was cut short by the sound of Nino’s voice on the other side of the door.

“Marinette, are you in there?” he asked, making Lady Monarch wince. She hadn’t considered the thought of one of her classmates looking for her. She looked around the room to see that there were no other exits besides the windows.

_Ugh! This is the last time I pick a one door room to camp in!_ she thought to herself as she made her way towards the windows. After positioning herself on the edge of them she jumped towards the roof, making it despite the odd way she had to angle herself. Lady Monarch breathed a sigh of relief as she made her way towards another empty room which had, to her **delight** , one door!

* * *

The real Volpina arrived at the stadium first, the champion hot on her tail. She cursed herself for not realizing that the slow beast will take the shortest route to get there. As she arrived there she was knocked into the stadium by another surprise blow from the cat hero’s staff, this time a lunge. The two heroes entered the stadium as Volpina attacked the students there, Chat going to parry the projectiles while Ironheart picked up the, ironically, slowest student, Kim, and deposited him a safe distance away while saying :

“WHOSE THE WUSS NOW HUH?!”

Ironheart got back to the fight, stopping to angrily look at the purple ball in his hand that beeped for a fourth time.

_“That’s the timer!”_ informed Lady Monarch _“You have 4 minutes left before I will need to retrieve my Fay, or else you will stay stuck like this until I recharge.”_

Ironheart nodded at the statement, an idea forming in his mind as he looked at Chat and Volpina’s clones fighting.

“CAT! GET WAY!” he roared, Chat quickly jumping away as he hit his chest, causing a loud noise and stunning every Volpina present. Chat followed up on this and used his staff to trip all the clones, every single one of them turning to smoke.

“What the—?” Chat was caught off as Volpina appeared out of nowhere and shoved him to the ground, Ironheart wanted to intervene but the vixen villan put the blade of her weapon next to Chat’s neck, his eyes becoming wide with fear.

“Eh eh eh! One more step and kitty-cat’s life count will go down to eight. Now be a good boy and go back to your master!”

Volpina played some notes on her clarinet and made a pair clones appear in front of Ironheart.

“You two will follow Ironheart as he goes back to Lady Monarch, once there, take her brooch and bring it back here.”

Ironheart grumbled, clearly at a loss for what to do. That was until a yellow butterfly symbol appeared in front of his face and spelled it out to him:

_“Snap your fingers! Quickly!”_ Ironheart did as he was told and snapped his fingers then quickly made to grab Volpina, the vixen villain turning to smoke. A bunch more clones appeared, and the champion had to pick up Chat and put some distance between the clones and them, the cat hero being to dazed to actually get away himself. The Volpinas climbed on top of one another, making human towers, one of the clones deciding to jump towards the heroes. Ironheart, startled by the villain’s advance, used his ‘free’ hand to catch her, dropping his Fay object by mistake.

_“Ironheart, the ball!”_ ordered Lady Monarch. The champion smooshed the clone, turning her to smoke and threw Chat Noir saying:

“CHAT NOIR, GET THE BALL!” Chat, who was already expecting to be thrown at some point, landed and caught the ball gracefully, looking up to see a wave of clones, all greedily staring at the Fay object in his hands.

“Ok, I think this is as good a time as any to use this: Cataclysm!” Chat pressed his right hand on the ground, the destructive energy from his special move causing cracks to form, which tripped up the surprises clones, all of them turning into smoke the moment they hit the ground. Chat Noir and Ironheart looked around, seeing nobody there besides the teens they had rescued earlier. The purple ball beeped, attracting the hero’s and champion’s attention. He only had a minute left. Chat handed the ball back to the sad golem.

_“It’s alright Ironheart! You may have failed at capturing the villain but at least succeeded in capturing your Juliette’s heart.”_ said Lady Monarch, releasing the Fay. Ironheart turned back into Ivan, the purple metal ball becoming the piece of paper again.

“Ironheart, I think you should look to your left.” supplied Chat Noir, he himself facing the direction he directed Ironheart to.

Ivan turned and saw Alya and Mylene running up to them. Mylene gave Ivan a hug, making him blush.

“… and now we’re going to get a short interview with Ironheart, aka Ivan Bruel, and our new cat hero Chat Noir!” Alya said to her livestream audience as she turned the camera to the three teens, starting with her questions.

“So! Ironheart, how did it feel for you to be chosen by our lady?”

“Well, I felt really confident in myself as Ironheart. Lady Monarch really trusted me to get the foxtail necklace, which was a shame since I didn’t get it. But at least I protected Chat Noir like she asked of me!”

“Chat Noir, how does it feel to be a hero? And, follow up question, do you happen to know who Grand-cat is under the mask?”

“It feels awesome! And Nope for the second one! We never even met face to face.” His ring beeped, making him realize that he had a time limit too. He quickly said his goodbye before leaving, hoping that he had enough time to get back to the school.

The interview continued on for a few minutes until Alya was fully satisfied with the answers she managed to get out of Ivan.

* * *

Marinette made her way out her hiding place and limped into the courtyard, calling for every classmate so they could make a group and check who was missing.

“Where’s Chloe?” asked Adrien after everybody was accounted for.

“I think she wasn’t at school all day now that I’m thinking about it.” responded Alix.

The confusion was quickly dispersed by Max, who had the answer.

“Actually, I heard that Chloe is moving to New York. I’m guessing it’s related to what happened yesterday.“

Everyone was shocked, but then they jumped for joy, realizing what this meant : the class bully was gone! The only ones who didn’t celebrate were Adrien, who was sad that his childhood friend left without saying goodbye, and Marinette, who limped next to him to provide what comfort she could.

“I’m sorry that you didn’t get to say goodbye Adrien. Maybe she’ll send you a letter when she gets there.”

“Considering how our last discussion turned out it’s not likely.”

“Then **you** could send her an email or call or …”

“Thank you for trying to comfort me Marinette but—Wait a second what happened to your cane?” asked Adrien, completely forgetting his plight in favor of focusing on the one the girl next to him had.

“Oh, lost it in the commotion. No biggie though! It’s not like that was my favorite or my most expensive cane anyway!... I can wait for Alya to come back and help me get home.” finished Marinette, her face showing her frustration as she fished out a small bottle from one of her denim jacket’s pockets and popped a pill.

“I could help you get home after we are let out of school if you want?” said Adrien, eying the pocket where the bottle of painkiller was.

“That’s very kind of you. Thank you!” Adrien blushed slightly as Marinette proceeded to hock their arms together.

When the principal finally gave the all clear everyone left the school, Marinette, Alya and Nino going to Marinette’s, Adrien being allowed to go too but only if he stayed for two hours maximum.

“Ironheart was so cool Marinette! He was like a giant gong and he used that to his advantage to defeat Volpina. He even tried to not hurt Chat Noir’s ears!” Marinette already knew how the fight went down, but she pretended to be excited.

Alya continued her gushing all the way to Marinette’s home including comments about the new cat hero and that ‘Cataclysm’ ability of his.

Author’s notes :

  * I changed Stoneheart from cannon because I didn’t think it’d fit with the alignment of good. I also changed his power set to reference his love for metal and the fact that as a hero he wasn’t shy anymore.
  * If you didn’t get the Kirby thing it’s alright. I didn’t really expect anyone to get it. The reference is to James Leyland Kirby, also known as the Caretaker. He’s a good musician that I discovered when looking for music to listen to while I write. I really like his music and recommend him to you guys.
  * Marinette’s appearance is different from cannon : her hair is much messier and her pigtails are slightly longer and pointing downward as a result of her different lifestyle; besides that she has the obvious cane and her blazer has been switched for a grey denim jacket (the sleeves are not rolled up whether she wears the jacket or blazer); she wears an assortment of fanny packs (for Nooroo to sit in), shirts (some sleeveless) and different pairs of pants. She still has her trusty ballet flats, just in many different colors. The change was made because this version of Mari is much more involved in fashion than her cannon counterpart; all the clothes she wears were made by her. It’s also because this is a story so I can make the characters wear as many outfits as I want.
  * Adrien will also have a different outfit which will be revealed in the future.
  * The other characters don’t have different appearances, the only exception being Alya : she wears an open red and orange plaid shirt over a white tank top and she also wears a pair—oops! Almost got into spoiler territory there. There are a few exceptions to this rule as you will see.
  * Finally the emotional light thing is the way I like to expand upon the butterfly miraculous power. The way it works is that Marinette can see these lights around people, lights that can obviously be ignored. The ones that can’t be ignored are the ones that don’t radiate (the term I use for an emotional light ‘moving’ in certain ways, an example being that anger is associated with a pulsing movement). These ones can create the sensation of lifelessness and so, cause this feeling of nausea in the user.




	12. Chapter XII : Bubblemaster, instruments and birthdays  (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien's 17th birthday is approaching! This two-parter follows the events leading up and during the birthday.
> 
> Enjoy part one of calm, downtime and fluff!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again thank you for reading and and giving kudos to this story and the attached shorts!
> 
> Speaking of kudos, Plasmadom, may I borrow your paradox machine? There are some stories I would love to give multiple kudos to!

Adrien never was in a girl’s room before (If he couldn’t count Chloe’s that is). When he first came to school he came across many teenagers, boys and girls, and some girls, like Rose, were dressed in pink, while others were dressed in black, like Juleka and Alix. The other girls had some sort of colorful ensemble though, the only exception being Marinette, who was dressed in white, copper brown and grey. He naively expected her room to be colored in similarly plain colors, so it came as a surprise when his eyes were slapped by the pastel neon aqua color on the walls and grayish white that dominated the floor and wooden beams that served as support. On the walls, besides the bullet board of ideas and a framed family portrait, was a pattern of flowers that was clearly handmade, probably by Marinette herself, he observed as he decided to sit down on the pastel forest green chaise longue. He realized who else sat down on it a little too late, her voice startling him.

“What to do…?” Marinette asked herself aloud.

“I have an idea!” said Nino, making Marinette look at him, intrigued.

* * *

Music! That’s what could be heard inside the bakery the afternoon after the fight between Ironheart, Chat Noir and Volpina. Nino was recording the whole thing, deciding to keep it for later and remix it for Adrien’s birthday. The reason for that was obvious : Adrien and Marinette were doing a musical instrument duet, the young fashion designer on her violin, while the young model on a small synthesizer.

“Woo! Encore, encore!” exclaimed Alya, clapping her hands when they finished singing. Nino put his phone away to clap as well.

“Nope. Adrien can only stay here for two hours and we’ve been playing our instruments for forty five minutes. I think it’d be fair to do something else.”

Alya made a glum face for a few seconds, but then perked up, Marinette noticing she had the face she wore when she had an idea.

“No problem! We still have time, we could watch a film! Me and Marinette could choose the film and—“

“Actually, Alya, how about we let Marinette and Adrien choose the film while we go down and prepare the snacks!” Marinette watched as the DJ dragged Alya out of the room. She was unsure of why he seemed to act suspicious, but she just let it go for the moment, thinking she’ll figure it out eventually. She got up from her spot on the chaise longue and limped towards the window.

“W-what are you doing?” asked Adrien. His ‘emotional light’ radiated apprehension.

“We were so into playing music on our instruments that we managed to make the room hotter. I’m just opening the window and taking off my jacket.” replied Marinette as she did exactly that. Adrien went cross eyed at what he saw. When he first met Marinette, he noticed that her shoulders were a bit wider compared to some of the other girls and now he knew why: her arms were buff!

“Marinette, a-are you into sports?” he asked, trying and succeeding at keeping himself from blushing. Marinette turned towards him with a melancholic expression as she locked down at herself and crossed her arms.

“I used to be… I really loved jogging as kid! At first it was a good way to keep fit, but after the accident I realized it became a liberating sensation for me. The morning air, the streets of Paris and some good music was all I needed to unwind. You should try jogging some time, it’s really fun— Just remember to do some stretching first so you don’t pull a muscle while on a run.” said Marinette as she made her way towards a bookshelf. She motioned for him to come and take a look, asking if he ever watched some of the films she had.

* * *

After the two chose a film, they went down to watch it and eat the snacks Alya and Nino prepared. Alya stood on Marinette’s right side while Adrien and Nino stood her left. Before putting on the movie everybody got comfortable, Marinette putting her feet up the edge of the table, which alerted Adrien.

“Don’t worry, my parents allow me to do this as long as I clean the table.” said Marinette, stopping Adrien from asking any questions.

The blond was beginning to think that Alya was right. Marinette seemed to act around him the same way she did with everyone else. He’ll have to either give up or try a different tactic if he wanted to have a chance at being with her.

Once the film was over Adrien left, and so did Alya and Nino, the two accompanying him since his mansion apparently wasn’t too far from Marinette’s home. On the way they talked about Nino’s attempt at getting the two together.

“So, did anything happen?” asked the DJ.

“No…” responded Adrien sadly.

“Told you Nino. She’s treating him like pretty much everybody else.”

“Wow there! Maybe something really small happened. Something that maybe you didn’t notice, dude. Did she mention something?” Nino pressed, really trying to find that needle in the haystack for Adrien.

“… Well she did mention that she was into sports…”

“What sports? Did she elaborate?” asked Alya suddenly, turning her head to look at him so fast she should have suffered whiplash.

“She mentioned jogging and—“ Adrien was caught off by Alya’s shouting and Nino’s laughing.

“HOW?! You must be using voodoo magic or something! There is no way she’d begin with that.” Alya was looking at him incredulously as Nino cleared it up for him.

“Marinette used to jog before she got her injury and that’s a bit of a sore subject for her. I dunno how you did it, but you just crow bared her soul open.” Adrien stared blankly at him for a few seconds. Nino and Alya stopped walking since he stopped walking and the two shared a laugh when he jumped for joy.

* * *

A few days have passed with no activity from Paris’ villain and so Gabriel decided to finally have that talk with Miss Dupain-Cheng. He sent Nathalie and thankfully the young lady was free. He doubted it, though. Knowing his reputation, the teen probably shoehorned the meeting in her schedule.

Miss Dupain-Cheng followed Mister Agreste from the front door of the mansion to his office/studio and seated herself down at a chair, feeling a bit sick from a combination of nerves and a distant ‘emotional light’ that seemed wrong. She took a sip from the tea that was provided to calm herself.

“I want to begin by commending you for your efforts.” began Mister Agreste, confusing her a bit. “You have perfected your talent and haven’t lost your determination in spite of your physical and mental condition.” Realizing where this was going, she quickly interjected.

“You know, I keep a count of how many platitudes I get. Yours is rounding it up to four hundred, so congrats!” she snarked, wanting to move on from **that** topic as quickly as possible. She was thankful that Mister Agreste got the message.

“Could I have another look at your sketchbook?” he asked and Marinette complied. Mister Agreste took a more analytical look than last time, comparing designs and color schemes, looking for unneeded features and comparing the evolution in style from what Marinette could tell.

“As I said before, your designs are inspiring, but from what I can see there are a few places where you could still improve. I am willing to help you in those places, if you accept, Miss Dupain-Cheng ”

“Thank you for your offer sir, I am also willing to get better. Also I’m not much of a fan of the ‘Miss’. ‘Dupain-Cheng’ is faster.” Her comment brought an actual chuckle out of Agreste.

“I have never, in my life come across someone as direct and bold as you. Most people just cower before me since I give off this frightening presence.”

“… Right, should I mention that my rational side is telling me to stop snarking or…?” she asked, taking another sip from her cup. “Green tea is a very good choice by the way!” she added as she drank a little more before placing her cup back down. Some part of her (Her _old self_.) was a little surprised that she didn’t actually anger the fashion mogul. Looking at him though, she could see that he was just like any other person, the only exception being the pain of loss that was visible in his eyes. She could recognize that pain easily, since she too had a similar one. His was so much worse and Marinette hoped to never have to feel that pain.

“Thank you. Green tea is my personal preference. I also have to say that if what I am seeing is just a mask, then you will have no problem with reporters in the future.” he said before taking a sip from his own cup.

The two fashion masters continued on with their conversation, talking about some places Marinette could improve, but the conversation quickly derailing to books and other things, the time ticking by. When she realized how much time had passed, Marinette was quick to leave, taking her wooden cane and leaving the mansion as quickly as possible. She still had other things to do after all. As she made her way out of the mansion’s courtyard she was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea, her sixth sense screaming at her in regards to a nearby ‘emotional light’: **wrong, backwards, stiff, tortured, dying** _._ Marinette braced herself against the gates so she wouldn’t fall before stumbling back inside the mansion.

Author’s notes :

  * That’s the end of the first part folks. I usually make a rule to have a chapter with nothing but fluff, drama and character interactions right after all the action. The next chapter will pick up on the action portion.
  * Poor Marinette had just gotten a taste of what the miraculous corruption feels like when Volpina is active. Poor girl will have a field day if she gets captured.
  * By the way the reason Volpina didn’t affect her last chapter was because all the students’ emotions were acting up like crazy and working as a buffer, similarly to how they were buffering when she first came into the class that morning.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not an author note, but a personal note...
> 
> I thought that the year 2020 would be amazing, since it's double 20 and it sounds so futuristic... However, the entertainment medium suffered a major blow, with the 57 year giant of science fiction which I was a fan of, Doctor Who, having been killed by a terrible terrible man! #RIPDoctorWho
> 
> My original plan after this Miraculous Ladybug kwami!swap series was to do a my hero academia fan series and then a doctor who one where I would show that it was possible to keep the soul of the show and the titular character even with a female lead... Now though, I feel that I have to work twice as heard on that series in order to show that I, as a fan, am angry that BBC and Chris Chibnall spit in the face of a half a decade science fiction masterpiece that inspired so many people to enter the story medium, including me!


	13. Chapter XIII : Bubblemaster, remixes and confrontations  (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings everyone and welcome to the new update! Today, we bring the end of the two parter, where we find out what happened to Marinette and we get to Adrien's birthday itself.

When Nathalie heard the mansion door open and then close loudly she was admittedly scared since there weren’t other visits on the agenda for today. Then she heard the sound of wood hitting the marble floor and realized that Miss Dupain-Cheng had come back, something clearly wrong. She got up to investigate and found the teen slumped by the door with Adrien next to her and the gorilla standing there, at a loss for what to do.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng, are you with us!”

“More than I’d like … Monster headache.” she groaned.

Nathalie then noticed that the young lady was holding a bottle of painkillers in her left hand. Considering this she told Adrien to guide her to his room and have her stay there until she felt better. Miss Dupain-Cheng protested, mumbling something about how she just needed to wait a minute or two for the painkillers to kick in. Her protests went unheard as Adrien slowly guided her to his room.

“Seriously Adrien… I’m fine. Look at me! It’s already working!” said Marinette, who looked like she was a little better.

“I know that you look better but maybe you should sit down and rest for a bit.”

“<Sigh> Fine… if that will make you stop worrying for no reason…” Marinette sat down on the boy’s couch for a few seconds before promptly getting up and pacing the room. _The headache I had wasn’t normal…_ she thought to herself as she stopped to stare out the window.

“Do you have the feeling that you’re being watched Adrien?” she asked suddenly, startling the blond from his thoughts.

“Not… really. I do feel a bit uncomfortable but I think that’s because this is the first time there’s been a new person in my room.” he replied sheepishly.

“Really? First time? Like ever?”

Adrien nodded, looking out the window as well.

* * *

Some days passed since that incident, Marinette working on Adrien’s gift and sending champions to make night rounds around Paris with Chat in order to alleviate her nerves. (Some of those were actually eventful.) In one of those nights, the one before Adrien’s birthday, Marinette bit the bullet and decided to ask Chat Noir about Volpina’s ‘presence’.

“…My lady is asking if you feel different around Volpina.” said Lady Wifi. The hero and champion were sitting on the edge of a building, Lady wifi eating a chocolate bar.

“Not really… She is a little unnerving when she gets up close and personal, but when she’s throwing anvils, bowling balls and fridges from afar everything is normal.“ replied Chat, who was drinking some soda. “Why did she ask?”

“… My lady theorizes that Volpina’s ‘emotional light’ is wrong and that the unnerving feeling is the effect of her miraculous having undergone a process called ‘corruption’… How do you know that my lady?” Chat’s staff suddenly buzzed, startling the both of them. The cat hero removed from his back and pressed a button, half of it moving upwards to reveal a phone screen with the symbol of a butterfly on it.

 _“I possess documentation regarding the miraculouses… It’s partial information at best, but it’s still serviceable.”_ responded the butterfly hero.

“THIS THING’S A PHONE TOO?!” asked Chat excitedly.

_“…Yes! For… goodness sake , how much sugar does that thing you’re drinking have?”_

“I donno.”

_“Ugh! I think it’d be best if we call it a night. Unlike you two, who are making it so you’ll have trouble sleeping, I didn’t bother with coffee or other stuff. Good bye!”_

“Buh-bye!” said Chat before the call ended. Chat and Lady Wifi had a goodbye fist bump before leaving to go home.

* * *

Marinette woke up bright and early, following a good night’s rest. She’d had the luck to have a bunch of painless nights back to back, which made her a bit anxious, since that meant her leg will bother her in the near future very soon, which is why that morning she asked her little cinnamon roll about it.

“Nooroo! Do you think that being Monarch has an effect on my leg, like, I don’t know … Is the magic slowly healing it?”

“No. The miraculouses are _miraculous_ , but they only make big changes that encompass humanity as a whole, not little ones like curing the illness of a user or repairing something that isn’t working properly in their system. The only thing that the transformation grants you is enhanced physical aspects.”

“Ok thanks for telling me!” Marinette supposed that was fair, as giving too much power to the users would lead to corruption … corruption. _Corruption!_ Flashbacks from the two first days of school as well as the incident at Adrien’s flashed in front of Marinette’s eyes as her mind connected the dots.

“What does corruption do to a miraculous and its user Nooroo?” she asked suddenly.

“Depends on the way the miraculous was corrupted, specifically the potency of said corruption.”

“How potent would the corruption be if it changed the user’s ‘emotional light’? How would the kwami be affected in that case?”

Nooroo didn’t respond, prompting Marinette to look up from where she was putting on her ballets and look at her right shoulder where Nooroo stood. He had a horrified face as he stared blankly in front of him, tears streaming down his small face. Marinette quickly cupped the kwami and brought it to her cheek, the little being hugging her and sobbing as Marinette sang ‘Dans sa maison un grand cerf’, a song Nooroo would often use to calm her down when she was having a breakdown. The little being eventually calmed down and Marinette got her answer.

“…I-it’d mean <sniff> that the kwami is in horrible pain, forced to remain inside the miraculous.” said Nooroo.

“That’s why Volpina’s ‘emotional light’ transmitted the feeling of being tortured. It wasn’t her but her kwami…”

“How do you know it was Volpina’s ‘emotional light’? Why would you want to assumed something so… morbid?!”

“That’s kind of my nature. I assume the worst in things. There’s also the fact that Volpina was using her special ability nonstop without timing out.” responded the girl as she stared at her kwami. Nooroo looked down and mumbled something that she barely caught.

“I hope you're wrong…”

* * *

Marinette made it to school with 5 minutes to spare unlike her usual arrival at the last possible second. She went to class, noticing that a few more student were there too, specifically Adrien, who saluted her, and Rossi, who was up in the back row, alone, unchanged. _She’s still barely radiating. If I don’t do something soon she might end up with psychological damage._

What made her a little worried was the fact that most of the class became a lot quieter after she entered.

* * *

Adrien noticed that Marinette seemed to look at the girl in blue with more interest than a few days ago. _There’s definitely some history between the two._

“Hey Nino, who’s the blue girl in the back row?” asked Adrien in a low voice. Nino straight at him as he responded.

“That’s Liar girl and she’s bad news dude. That girl will tell you anything just so you’ll pay attention to her. She even tried to get Mari expelled because she didn’t play along with letting her lie. You should stay away from her dude, especially if you’re trying to get in a relationship with Mari.”

“Ok, but don’t you think she looks … off?”

“’off’ in what way?”

“I don’t know. She just looks empty, like she isn’t feeling any emotion at all.”

“Oh! I don’t think I can help you with that dude. The only person who could tell you something is Marinette.”

“Why her?”

“She’s very good at reading people!”

“Oh. Why doesn’t she realize I like her then?” asked Adrien confused.

“I don’t know. One option is that she **does** know you like her, but doesn’t want to lead you on. The other is just that she doesn’t pay attention to that sort of stuff.” replied the DJ as the teacher entered.

The rest of the day went on as normal until lunch came with Adrien trying to convince his father to let him out for his birthday. Nino stumbled over the correct way of addressing Adrien’s father but miraculously managed to get a compromise: Adrien would not be allowed outside due to the last villain attack being at the school where he went, but Nino and all other friends would be allowed to come to the Agreste Mansion for his birthday, in semiformal wear of course.

Adrien wanted to jump for joy. He was satisfied with giving his best friend a hug, happy that Nino managed to convince his father to allow him a more ‘traditional’ birthday.

After lunch he went back to school and invited everyone to his party. In short, everyone was ecstatic.

* * *

When school finally ended Marinette dragged Alya to her house to present her with something. The blogger’s reaction was as follows:

“…I can’t…” Marinette’s bright smile was replaced by her usual bored expression mixed in with mock confusion, the outstretched hand that was pointed at the dress falling to her side.

“But Cesaire wanted a party dress. She said so last year.”

“Well yeah, but I have one at home already.”

“No, you don’t. Any party dress you’d like would be too expensive to buy with your budget. You didn’t take any jobs either and you would **never** put money away to buy a party dress. You would rather spend it on gadgets or other things.”

“… Alright fine, you got me. <sigh> It’s just that—“

“What?”

“… It’s too pretty.”

“I was expecting something like ‘It’s not up my alley!’ or ‘Red isn’t a good color for me.’ even though it totally is. It’s a good thing it wasn’t either.” replied the young fashion designer as she walked away to pick up something. Alya turned around and open her mouth to speak when Marinette showed her a colored sketch that took her breath away: it was of her and Alya sitting next to each other. Marinette was dressed in purple dress and she wore the red one that was behind her. Her hair was styled differently too.

“You’re wearing the dress.” said Marinette.

“Yes ma’am…” responded Alya, still transfixed by the very realistic sketch of what she’d look like after Marinette would spruce her up.

* * *

The party was set: the decorations placed, the tables set, food and drinks accounted for and … **the music**. Gabriel sighed, looking at the DJ booth that was being set up by his son’s best friend. He really didn’t like the fact that the boy was his son’s best friend, but he was definitely a step up from miss Bourgeois, not to mention that he wasn’t the only friend he had, Dupain-Cheng and her friend Miss Cesaire also being part of his entourage… He was also very diligent with the preparations, so that was a plus.

* * *

Marinette and Alya made it to the party fashionably late.(“You’re the only person that can call 30 minutes fashionably late girl.” “Shhh! It’s not my fault you accidentally ripped the dress!” "<Giggles> Sorry about that by the way!") When they arrived they saw that the courtyard was fitted with a dance floor and tables were set up, some of her classmates sitting and talking while others danced. Marinette spied Rossi going inside the mansion and went in that direction, giving Alya the excuse that she needed to go and greet birthday boy.

Alya decided to make her way towards Nino, smiling a little as she saw him stare for a few seconds. _Marinette was so right!_ She told herself. She was dressed in beautiful fire red dress that covered everything from the neck down. It was a bit form fitting though and it had a small slit on the right. Her hair was styled in a loose ponytail with a side swept bang. She wore a moderate amount of makeup, the only thing standing out being her red lips; to complete her look she forgone the glasses for contacts.

“You dressed for the occasion!” she said, taking note of Nino’s gray suit and black shirt.

“Y-Yeah! I thought it’d be good to do it since it took some convincing to get Mister Agreste to green light the party.” said Nino. The two teens continued their conversation, unaware of the things that were going to happen that evening.

* * *

Adrien waited for the guests, dressed in a light grey suit with a white shirt and green waistcoat. After about 30 minutes he managed to spot ‘Liar girl’, as most of his classmates seemed to call her, and he saw her going in the mansion. Suspecting something was up he went in the same direction, bumping into the most beautifully dressed person, Marinette: she was wearing a simple purple dress with a fluffy lower part. On her waist, she had a thin silver belt and she wore a tighter fitting, short sleeved, tunic lapel, buttonless gray blazer; her hair was styled in a bun and on her feet she wore silver strappy flat sandals.

Adrien blushed, realizing he was just staring and not saying anything. Marinette thankfully decided to spare him from having to break the ice.

“Hey Adrien! Enjoying your birthday party?”

“Yeah, I am! Are **you** enjoying the party?”

“I just got here so I can’t really give my vote yet. Did anyone give you presents or …?” she trailed off, not sure how to continue. _Lila’s inside his house, who knows what she’s going to do._ her mind reminded her.

“No they, um, didn’t, yet! I’m guessing everybody’s waiting for the cake.” _What are you doing? She’s right there in front of you! That girl in blue can wait. Enjoy yourself._

“Would you dance to like?— I mean— like to dance?” asked Adrien, his flustered demeanor making Marinette chuckle.

“Oh, I kind of…” _It’s his birthday, don't be rude! Lila-who-might-be-Volpina can wait a couple of minutes right?_ “Sure I’d love to!”

Adrien and Marinette made their way onto the dance floor, where the girl bedazzled him. In spite of the fact that she had a bad leg Marinette was still a pretty good dancer, complementing her moves with a few cane turns that, amazingly, didn’t hit anybody. The two love birds were unknowingly watched from afar by three pairs of eyes: Alya’s, Nino’s and a pair from the top of the mansion’s roof. A figure clad in black and blue pounced on the unsuspecting teens bellow, only to be smacked in midair by a certain wooden cane.

“THAT'S FOR MY OTHER CANE!” shouted Marinette before slumping against Adrien, the proximity with the villain draining her of the will to move any further. Adrien realized this and guided the girl through the chaos and inside the mansion, where everyone but one person made it. This person was Alya, Volpina holding roughly onto the bloggers wrist as she jumped on the mansion’s wall.

“Hahahaha! Let’s see how long it takes for the heroes to notice something is wrong.”

“YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS!” roared Alya, making Volpina laugh.

“Oh but I will! And you know why?”

“…Enlighten me…” responded the blogger as she glared daggers.

“Because Lady Monarch will be forced to make another champion. And since we are in a very important place with a bunch of people that she won’t want to hurt, one of them being her favorite champion, she will be forced to make a weaker fighter which will be easy to beat!”

“You are underestimating my lady, Volpina! She will do no such thing! She is creative and resourceful! She’ll find a way to defeat you!”

“But until then you’ll have to tango with me!” a third voice said. Volpina turned to see that Chat Noir has joined the fray.

“You’re a little bit early kitty!”

“Can you blame me? I was in the region and I saw a party going on. How could I resist?!” he dramatically leaned on his staff, the back of his free hand resting on his forehead.

“Yeah! Kick her ass, Chat!”

Volpina didn’t waste any more time with talking, immediately creating a bunch of clones and some chains for his hostage. She cackled like the witch she was, as she watched Chat fighting the clones. To make everything worse, she sent firework rockets his way, rockets that made bright lights right before turning into smoke.

* * *

Adrien had given Marinette the perfect excuse to get away from the crowd : going to the bathroom. He had let her in first, like the gentleman he was, and then left her there at her request.

“Are you feeling ok Marinette?”

“Fine.” She burped, happy that she didn’t vomit yet as she listened to the sound of footsteps moving away. “I need to get a champion out there to make Volpina retreat. Or, if I’m lucky, get her miraculous. Nooroo—“ Marinette celebrated too soon, as the nausea made her empty her stomach into the toilet. Nooroo nestled on her head and began patting her, releasing his magical energy at the same to calm her ‘emotional light’ down. Thankfully it worked, and she was able to get up and wash her face, removing her light makeup in the process.

“…Whatever…” she said.

“Feeling better?”

“…Yes… I assume that was anxiety nausea… right?”

“Yes. It was. Maybe you should wait a little longer before—“

“Nope. Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” The butterfly kwami was sucked into the brooch, magical energy enveloping Marinette and turning her into Lady Monarch, the cane she was holding being enveloped as well, becoming her enchanted tool.

Lady Monarch Pushed herself off of the sink she was leaning on and stumbled backwards before hitting her back on the opposite bathroom wall. She placed her cane down in front of her and closed her eyes as she slowly, carefully, reached out with her amplified sixth sense to look for a champion. She found them and smirked.

“It’s a shame to work so hard towards a goal, only for everything to fail. It is even worse to watch a friend being in trouble and not have any way to help them.” She said as she opened the lid of her cane, the white butterfly flying upwards into the air before coming down and resting on her hand. Lady Monarch charged it with magical energy before sending it away with her command:

“Fly away my wonderful Fay, and give the hard worker the reward to help save his friend.” The Fay flew out of the bathroom and reached the foyer on the first floor. It stopped for a second to find the person it was tasked to transform, finding him in the crowd that was looking out the window. It flew to him and entered the bubbles bottle that was sticking out from one of the pockets of his suit.

* * *

Nino was feeling the worst at the moment. He worked so hard to give his best friend a normal party. His father had apparently no idea how to throw a normal party for teenagers, so he had to help with the preparations in regards to music, decorations and food. Now, to watch as all that work went to waste, as all that food was thrown to the ground, as the tables were broken and as the DJ equipment was destroyed, just because Volpina decided to come ruin the party he prepared for his best friend and hold hostage another friend, made him angry. He wanted to go out there and capture that little—

 _“My, my! Volpina sure made you angry, hasn’t she? How about I give you the power you could use to get this party back on track, ey Bubblemaster? In return you must retrieve her necklace for me of course._ ” said Lady Monarch, her presence being accompanied by the butterfly symbol that appeared in front of the DJ’s face.   
“Oh, I will my lady! Nobody, and I mean nobody ruins a party and holds hostage one of my friends!” responded Nino, the energy from the bubbles bottle surging and changing him.

When the white-yellow light dimmed everyone who turned to look at Nino after he spoke saw Bubblemaster in his place: a robotic figure with a purely metallic body, its upper chest and shoulder pads were colored red while the lower part and arms were colored white. His ‘face’ was more of a blue helmet with a light blue portion covering his nose and mouth, a silver reflective visor covering his eyes. His legs were light purple and had giant purple boots. His forearms were similarly huge and purple, his right one shaped like a cannon. His whole look seemed inspired by a videogame.

Without a single word the figure ran out of the mansion and joined the fight, Lady Monarch taking his place at the window.

* * *

The clones managed to restrain Chat Noir after his valiant effort to fight them all alone. Volpina was in front of him and reaching out towards his ring hand. Without any other solution in sight Chat did the only thing he could.

“Cataclysm!”

His right hand charged with destructive energy which was then discharged into the clone that was holding his hand out for Volpina, resulting in said clone puffing in a big, black and foul smelling cloud. Chat utilized the distraction and jumped out of the cloud. Suddenly, green bubbles encased most of the clones, leaving them to gently float away from the ground. Chat and Volpina turned towards the champion, Chat smiling and Volpina scowling.

Chat watched in amazement as blue a ‘dialogue box’ appeared above the champion’s head. A soft buzz accompanied the appearance of each pixel-y letter as the name Bubblemaster was spelled out. A second later the dialogue box disappeared and the champion began shooting green bubbles again. Volpina retaliated with shooting firework rockets, only for them to get caught and sent floating like the clones.

“So cool!” said Chat. His ring beeped, alerting him that he will turn back soon.

“Hey Bubblemaster, we should wrap this up quickly before my timer runs out! Okay?” he received a thumbs up as a response.

Bubblemaster stopped shooting and turned a dial on his cannon, resuming shooting with purple homing bubbles instead. Volpina used her clarinet to shield herself against the onslaught, unable to summon more clones as Bubblemaster kept her hands busy. Chat used this chances to creep behind the villain and get her. He accomplished his goal, unfortunately so did Bubblemaster. The cat and fox began to float away inside the bubble that encompassed them.

A dialogue box popped into existence next to the two and they both turned to look at it. The words ‘Mission objective: Get the necklace!’ appeared before the box disappeared. He tried to obey them, but unfortunately the small space he was in and Volpina’s struggling didn’t allow it.

_“Pop the bubble! If you let it get too high Chat will get hurt from the fall!”_

Bubblemaster grunted in annoyance but did as he was told and popped active bubble number 16. Chat and Volpina fell, but Bubblemaster gave the cat hero a blue platform bubble. He shot a few more of those before jumping in the air and beginning to pepper the ground with yellow sticky bubbles from the higher ground. Volpina was now stuck with no way out.

“Good job Bubblemaster! You certainly burst her bubble!” the joke made a dialogue with ‘Hahahahaha!’ appear, Lady Monarch chuckling as well.

_“Wonderful work Bubblemaster! Now go down there and retrieve my necklace.”_

Bubblemaster obeyed, popping all the bubbles except the ones with the clones and the ones that trapped the vixen villain. The two heroes dropped down and closed the distance between them and the villain. Just as Chat was about to pull the necklace they heard laughing from behind them. They turned around to see that the source was Alya, who, in puff of smoke, turned into Volpina. Bubble master pointed his finger at her, a dialogue box with the words ‘WHAT DID YOU DO WITH ALYA!!!!!’ appearing right in front of her.

“I instruct you to look back towards the window.” said Volpina once her laughing fit died down. Chat turned around, his ears picking up the sound of a finger snap. Right at that moment Alya popped out of nowhere in a flash of orange light.

“My master was really serious when he said you’re all dummies! Ha!” Volpina snapped her fingers again and Bubblemaster’s cannon arm bloop-ed three times. He checked his readings and realized that all of the bubbles popped because there wasn’t anything inside them or sticking to them. Volpina laughed some more before she snapped her fingers again and made herself disappear. A bunch of clones appeared right above them and the champion made one gigantic orange bubble that took the brunt of the attack and covered the two. Chat’s ring beeped again and Bubblemaster’s visor told him that he still had six minutes to spare. Bubblemaster decided to pull off a sacrificial move. He turned his cannon’s dial to black.

 _“Bubblemaster don’t! I order you to look for another way! Use your red explosive bubbles, your indigo bouncy ones, use any other function except that one! There’s no telling what doing that would cause!”_ Lady Monarch’s order went unheard as Bubblemaster proceeded to pop the large orange bubble. The clones fell with nothing to support them, but instead of attacking like they were hoping, they turned into smoke and were sucked into Bubblemaster’s cannon. The champion’s body began to shake and the sound of metal buckling was heard.

“Bubblemaster?” asked Chat in fear as his ring beeped for a third time.

“LEAVE! NOW!” shouted the champion, Chat recognizing the voice instantly.

“Nino…?” he whispered, his voice being covered by the sound of metal creaking. A small area of Bubblemaster’s back split, blue smoke coming out of the fissure. Chat immediately ran up to him and help the champion turn the dial all the way to white.

“Is this good?!” he received a nod. Another fissure appeared on the champion’s body, this time on his left shoulder, followed by another on his upper leg. Chat quickly helped Bubblemaster point his cannon upwards and, with a short whirl, it shot a white beam into the sky. When the beam finally stopped Bubble master dropped to his knees and arms breathing heavily. His body began to glow with the white-yellow light and he turned back into Nino.

“Are you alright?” asked Chat quickly.

“…I’m fine! My muscles feel very tense but that’s it…”

“Don’t do anything like that, ok?” Chat’s ring beeped for a third time.

“I did it to give you an escape…”

“Well you could have held them off instead of… sucking them up. <Sigh> I’m gonna leave. Try to stay in one piece, okay?”

“Sure…” Chat quickly left, turning around after a few blocks to get back in the mansion. Thankfully, the window in his father’s study was open. _Weird, I though he kept the windows here closed._ he noted. Once inside he turned back into Adrien and exited the office, moving to the main foyer, where everyone was. 

“Did we miss something?” he asked.

“Where did you come from?” asked Alya.

“I kind of got locked in father’s office after I used the toilet there. I forgot about the new security, sorry!”

“But why were you going there?”

“Well, after I helped Marinette get to the toilet upstairs I needed to go too and—“

“’too’ implies that I went to the toilet as well. I actually vomited…” said Marinette bitterly, the young fashion designer almost appearing out of nowhere. She turned to look towards Nino, who was being helped inside, a mixture of worry and annoyance on her face. Gabriel decided to elevate the mood by mentioning that they should serve the birthday cake in celebration of his son’s birthday and the hard earned victory of Chat Noir and Lady Monarch’s champion. That seemed to do the trick as everyone recovered some of their cheeriness. Only Lila seemed aggravated by something and Marinette considered it might be proof that she was Volpina. She didn’t do anything about it though, deciding to keep that thought for later. After everyone received a slice of cake (even Nino, whose muscle strain recovered fairly quickly), Adrien began opening some of the gifts. Marinette took this chance to give the gift she didn’t put with the others.

“Here you go Adrien! This gift is from both your dad and me!”

“From father?”

“Yeah, when he invited me over in regards to my sketches we ended up talking about a lot of things. One of them was how he wanted to give you a more interesting gift, but didn’t know what to choose. I told him that I was already preparing something and this is it.”

Adrien laughed at that. His father still had a ways to go before becoming good at actual parenting but trusting one of his friends with a gift for him was definitely a step in the right direction. Adrien put the gift away to open for later before clinking forks with Marinette, the two of them enjoying the cake and looking at the people present. Curiosity flared up in Marinette’s eyes and Adrien followed her gaze to the source of it: It was Lila Rossi, talking to and joking with Kim, Max, Mylene and Alix.

Author’s notes :

  * This chapter went through a lot of revision after I initially made it. I originally gave a big lore dump here, but I’ve decided against it. We will get to the mysteries in due time.
  * Lila’s outfit is among the ones that were changed from what you may have noticed. It’s not a big change though, she wears the same clothes but with negative colors.
  * Bubblemaster’s appearance was inspired by Garnet from Steven Universe and Zero from Megaman X, the Garnet bits were the shoulder pads and visor(not the star one); Zero was everything else (except for the mask and purple forearms and boots, those were my touches).




	14. Chapter XIV : Pigeons and allergies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The derby hat competition approaches and Marinette doesn't have a design for such a hat. That's the least of her problems however, her classmate Sabrina socially distancing herself from everyone. To boot, Volpina happens to attack the location where Marinette goes and forces Lady Monarch to improvise with a different champion than what she wished for. Can the teen hero come out on top and solve every problem? Well, let's see...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Sunday, another update! Thank you for showing your interest in my story and for giving kudos!

Francois-Dupont college was holding a fashion contest. Under normal circumstances Marinette would be excited, especially when the judge would be her idol Gabriel Agreste. However this was not the case because of two reasons : 1.Marinette knew that Agreste already recognized her work; 2.Raincomprix was still missing Chloe and that would not do. Marinette also felt guilty because Sabrina’s only friend, Chloe, was determined to leave Paris partially because of her. So Marinette decided to cheer up Sabrina. There was only one problem: cheering up was old Marinette’s expertise. When lunch came she cautiously made her move, something that Alya noticed.

“Hey, are you alright? You’ve had something on your mind since before the class ended. That doesn’t usually happen.” asked the blogger as the two of them exited the classroom.

“I’m good! In fact I’m better than good – I feel pretty charitable today! That’s **rare**.” responded the young fashion designer as she proceeded to walk faster so she could catch up with Sabrina. Alya mouthed ‘charitable’ as she watched the ensuing exchange.

“Sabrina, wait up!”

“O-oh! Hi Marinette!? How a-are you?” Sabrina looked at her for a second before looking back down.

Marinette couldn’t help but notice the stutter her classmate used. Despite herself she felt sick. She remembered how Sabrina and Chloe became ‘friends’ so that Chloe would protect her as long as she did the work for both of them. Ever since Marinette knew Sabrina she had seen her morph into someone almost as bad as Chloe. She theorized that she was acting that way so she would appease her ‘friend’, but she had figured at least some of that behavior stuck. Marinette was very surprised by how different the real Sabrina actually is.

“Marinette?” The young fashion designer realized that she had been stuck in her own thoughts and that the two of them had stopped talking. She looked at Sabrina and gave a tired but genuine smile, taking the girl off guard.

“Do you want to enter the derby hat competition with me? Alya can’t really help since she’s working on her blog so…” she trailed off, waiting for Sabrina’s response.

“I think you’ll figure something out.” she said as she began to move again.

“Direct approach it is!” murmured the young fashion designer. Marinette picked her cane up by the shaft and used the tourist handle it had to grab and pull Sabrina back by the arm. 

“You can’t stay lonely forever Sabrina. Humans are by nature social beings. Even the grump of the class isn’t alone!” said Marinette as she leaned on her cane with both her hands. Sabrina looked at her, anger in her eyes and sadness in her ‘emotional light’.

“I had a friend and you with that blond took her away from me!” replied Sabrina. Marinette rolled her eyes.

“Agreste’s son is a social klutz! If he had told Chloe the story from the beginning, things would have gone differently.”

“And what **is** the story?” asked Sabrina, her eyes narrowing.

“I ran into Agreste on my way to school and he got a glimpse of my sketchbook by accident. He even signed it when we later talked.” To demonstrate her point Marinette pulled out her sketchbook and opened it on the first page. There, on the bottom right corner was Gabriel Agreste’s signature above the word ‘Magnificent’. “He wanted to write some praise on it. I wasn’t too much into that, but hey, what kind of person wouldn’t take advantage of that.” She said as she placed it back in her denim jacket’s interior pocket.

“That’s… Why do you want to be all nice now then? I’m fine on my own, really!”

“Was I fine on my own last year?”

“What?”

“Answer the question.”

“… No…” said Sabrina. The girl looked down, betraying the fact that she knew what Marinette was talking about.

“…The thing about Alya not being able to help was a lie by the way. She asked if I wanted her to be my partner and I said no.”

“Why would you want me to be your –“

“Oh for goodness sake! I’m trying to be nice here, gimme something, come on!” Sabrina held up her finger and opened her mouth only to close it and shake her head. She looked at Marinette with an expression filled with gratitude.

“Thank you!” she said happily as she hugged Marinette. The young fashion designer’s eyes looked annoyed, but she smiled as she patted the shorter girl’s head.

* * *

Sabrina and Marinette walked all the way to the Trocadero. The two of them walked around for a while, Sabrina offering Ideas for Marinette to write down, the blue haired writing down some of her own as well. After that Marinette found a nice place to sit down and do some sketches (Unbeknownst to her, Sabrina took hold of the cane so it wouldn’t sit on the ground). Marinette gave up after some tries, and after she got her cane back from Sabrina she twirled it above herself as she laid down on the ground, letting her mind wander.

Marinette thought back to the morning : Adrien had come to school dressed in the clothes she had gifted him: the forest green flannel over the black v-neck, a neon green black cat paw on the back of it, covered by the flannel. She really couldn’t help herself. Adrien’s silver ring reminded her too much of the cat miraculous. She didn’t want to ask him about it, but that didn’t mean she could get some answers indirectly. She has yet to ask about that detail but she was sure to do when she had the chance.

Marinette was brought back from her thoughts by the sound of a camera flash. She sat up and saw Sabrina photograph a pigeon. The bird didn’t even fly away, so she guessed the sound was just the electronic indicator that the photo was taken. The camera Sabrina had was relatively thin, slightly thicker than the average hand, and could fit in her pockets. Marinette remembered how the girl’s left pocket seemed to hold something and quickly connected the dots.

“Did Chloe ever let you do photography?” the question startled Sabrina a bit, but the girl looked back at her camera before responding.

“I didn’t really tell her… It was probably for the best since she would have laughed at me.”

“That’s it! Feather derby hat!” exclaimed Marinette, making Sabrina jump. Sabrina followed Marinette’s gaze and realized she was looking at her photo.

* * *

“How did I get into this mess?” asked Lady Monarch aloud.

* * *

Marinette and Sabrina had gotten separated after Volpina decided to attack The Trocadero. The young fashion had managed to successfully hide out of view and turn into her superhero persona. She had made a Fay and sent it towards Sabrina, but that idiotic miss colored fox scared it away and it accidentally connected to the wrong person.

* * *

“Oh, right! That’s how.”

 _“Hello?”_ asked the voice of the person she had accidentally connected to. _‘Jesus take the wheel’ I suppose._ she thought to herself as she cleared her throat.

“Greetings… Mr. Pigeon! My name is Lady Monarch. I call upon your help in order to banish this evil fox that is hurting the people of The Trocadero as well as the pigeons. If you wish to help I will give you the power to protect and fight back with the help of your feathered friends. In return I wish to have my fox necklace returned.” she said with as much seriousness as he could muster. It seemed to be very effective due to the champions response.

“My lady, I will do everything in my power to help you and prove how good of a champion I can be!” replied Mister Ramier.

A white-yellow light engulfed the pigeon lover and left behind Mr. Pigeon, a muscular man dressed in a black two button suit with a light grey knee length coat, black hat and light blue scarf and gloves; a golden bird whistle hung around his neck. Mr. Pigeon blew into his whistle and gathered as many pigeons as he could, using them as a flying platform to fly towards his enemy. Mr. Pigeon noticed that Chat Noir had arrived and decided to help him by sending some pigeons his way. What him and Lady Monarch didn’t know was that this was the biggest mistake of their lives.

* * *

“Attacking random places now Foxy?! You know I’m starting to think you’re running out of options! Maybe being a cat’s paw for your little friend isn’t working out too well for you!” Chat’s joke had had the intended effect: make Volpina mad.

“I AM NOT A CAT’S PAW! AND MY MASTER ISN’T SMALL!” Volpina made a bunch of clones and sent them Chat’s way, but before they could reach their destination they were picked up by a storm of pigeons that made Chat Noir sneeze.

“No, not pigeons! Give the cat something else to eat please!” he whined, his nose runny and his green eyes shedding tears.

“Chat Noir! My lady asks why you are crying!”

“I’m not crying it’s the stupid feathers! I’m allergic to – AAHH!”

Chat’s response turned into a scream as Volpina launched him into the champion. Mr. Pigeon caught him and placed him on the flying pigeon platform. He called over a bunch more pigeons to use and set some on fire with a snap of his fingers (in spite of the gloves). The magical purple fire wouldn’t hurt the pigeons but they will definitely hurt the villain. Mr. Pigeon turned to Chat, as his staff ringed. The cat hero, thinking that Lady Monarch wanted a more private conversation, turned a bit away from the champion.

“Hello?”

“I swear I didn’t choose this bird clown as a champion Chat! I was going to go with this nice redhead. I haven’t tried the stealthy approach and wanted to do it with her.”

“It’s alright. <sneeze> I should have told you I was allergic to feathers.” responded Chat, covering for Lady Monarch’s rude comment about the champion.

“What’s your name?” asked Chat.

“Mr. pigeon! And I believe the two of you should pay attention to the fight at hand." 

“What?!” exclaimed the two at the same time. Chat got to his feet and looked around noticing how plane shaped flocks of pigeons were dropping ‘bombs’ on Volpina, the vixen villain having an easy time with dodging and keeping ahead of the hero and champion as she was making her way through the city.

“Mr. Noir, can you perhaps hit her with your staff?”

“I bet that what were following is a clone. Chat, try to pull off some other maneuver.”

“What <sniff> other maneuver?”

“Your staff can act as a boomerang if you throw it.”

“Really? How did you know?”

“I got your instruction manual in the mail the other day. I wonder where mine got to?” joked Lady Monarch, making Chat laugh. The cat hero told Mr. Pigeon to make a wall to stop Volpina before he jumped away from him and cleared his eyes of tears so he could aim. The champion put up the wall while the vixen villain was in the air, so she hit it directly, stopping her dead in her tracks. Volpina jumped off of the wall and landed on a nearby roof, turning around and seeing Chat’s collapsed staff coming towards her. The vixen villain dodged.

“Ha! You missed!” The staff split into two in midair, both halves making an oval shape as they reunited with each other and hit Volpina in the back of her head, making her eat her words. 

Mr. Pigeon, noticing that Volpina was glaring at Chat and massaging the back of her head, decided it would be good to land a surprise attack. The champion quickly made his way from the side and attempted to hit her with a pigeon bat.

 _“Mr. Pigeon, stop!”_ Lady Monarch’s words came too late, as Volpina turned to him and smiled crazily just before she got hit, her body becoming smoke. A orange light shone a few feet above him, another Volpina landing on him. Chat attempted to jump over there to help, but hesitated for a second, which was just enough time for Volpina to remove the bird whistle from Mister Pigeon and jump a few feet away, the vixen villain victoriously smashing the bird whistle on the rooftop. The yellow butterfly escaped the object, but didn’t have time to fly away, as Volpina stabbed it with the blade on her clarinet. Just after that Chat’s staff hit her and the cat hero landed on the roof too, the miraculous tool coming right back into his hands. Volpina attempted to recuperate her clarinet, but she was batted to the ground by the cat hero, who then pinned her down with his staff.

“Come here and grab the necklace!” ordered the cat hero without taking his eyes off the Volpina. There were a few seconds where nothing happened besides the vixen hero’s struggling, so Chat looked to the side to see the previous Mr. Pigeon on the roof and on his knees looking at the ground. It was at that Moment that the cat hero no longer flet Volpina’s struggling and looked back to see that his staff was sitting on air. Sighing he collapsed his staff and clipped it on the back of his belt as he made his way to the former champion. 

“I failed. And I promised I will do good.” he murmured

“Hey, hey don’t beat yourself down! Being a hero is hard work, you can’t expect everything to always go in your favor. Lady Monarch also got very unlucky when choosing your powers. If she knew that I was allergic to feathers she would have given you something else. You did your best Mr. Pigeon, remember that!” said Chat, smiling to him in a comforting manner. Before he could say anything else he got a message on his phone. He patted the man on his shoulder and told him that he should get home before leaving and checking the message he received: ‘Get your catnap Chat, because tonight I need to speak with you.’

* * *

Marinette had finished her derby hat just in time for the competition. When Agreste started judging the hats he made various sounds of displeasure and some of interest when he noticed something he liked. After he judged all the hats he stopped to think for a bit before giving his verdict.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng I choose you as the winner! Your derby hat is well designed and it shows how much effort you put into the meticulous feather design. My son Adrien will wear your hat in my next fashion show.” Every participant congratulated Marinette on her win and Adrien showed his appreciation by deciding to put on her hat. When he did, however, he started sneezing.

“Feathers! I’m allergic to feathers!” he said in between his bout of sneezing. Marinette snickered, making him blush, as she took the derby hat back.

“Don’t worry Adrien! I’ll switch the real feather with an artificial one for your sake.” she said before snickering again. He couldn’t help but laugh too.

Author’s notes :

  * Adrien’s outfit is inspired by a comic dub on youtube. It’s source (I hope it’s still up) is from a comic on tumblr which you can find here: <https://ceejles.tumblr.com/tagged/adrinette>.
  * Lady Monarch came off pretty cynical and rude this episode. I’m gonna be honest, I find Mr. Pigeons’ depiction to be that of a classic cartoon villain (not to much brain and a lot of valor, to the point where he/she will fail no matter what). The reason he was similarly ineffectual here was because Lady Monarch didn’t feel a connection to him since he wasn’t her choice(that’s why she was rude). She didn’t know how to remove the butterfly so she just left it there and made do.
  * Mr. Pigeon will not be the only champion to get defeated. Now that Volpina has changed her strategy our heroes will have a harder time dealing with her. Don’t worry though, the law of universal balance dictates our heroes will level up as well.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personal note: being alone is not OK! We all need to have at least one friend. You may be shy or an outcast, but there will always be a friend you will find... eventually. Do try to make at least one friend, whether they are someone you meet regularly or happen to talk to from afar. I believe I found my friend and that's you guys!


	15. Chapter XV : Weather girls and storms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings! I'm back with another chapter for you guys! My head-in-the-clouds however resulted in me forgetting to place some beginning notes. So here we are! Anyway, I'm happy for all the kudos and support from you guys! In return I'll continue with this until we reach the end of this story. For now though, please enjoy this update!

Marinette and Manon we’re sitting in the bakery home’s living room, the older girl playing the violin while the younger one was staying still, enamored by the beautiful flow of the musical notes played. When Marinette finished her song the little girl clapped her hands loudly.

“Yay! Play it again! Play it again!”

“I’m sorry Manon but I can’t. The strings haven’t been changed in a very long while and I don’t want them to break.”

“B-but I like your songs!” said the little girl, her big eyes gleaming with the promise of tears. Marinette quickly looked for a way out and was saved when her cinnamon roll directed her eyes towards the TV.

“Oh look Manon! The new weather girl is about to be chosen!”

Manon turned her head towards the TV, Marinette smartly upping the volume for the other girl to hear and keep occupied. Marinette let go of the breath she didn’t know she was holding, giving a thankful look to the little purple god that got her out of a possible mess. Marinette turned around when she heard the Manon speak again.

“I’m gonna vote for Mireille, she’s the best!”

Marinette stumbled towards the little girl and snatched her phone back.

“Manon, how about you sit down and watch to see who’s going to win while I get you a cookie?” Marinette knew that the deal spelled disaster as a cookie will make Manon more excitable, but she didn’t know what else to do. Manon gasped before exclaiming ‘Cookie!’ and sitting down on the sofa by herself. Marinette went into the kitchen and opened the cookie jar, fishing out the last cookie inside.

“You do know giving her sugar will make it worse right?” Nooroo asked his young mistress.

“I know but I just need to buy a little more time until I think of something else. Maybe I could play some music on my phone and have her spend the extra energy by dancing, or I could give her some colors and paper to draw, or I—“ Marinette was cut off by her ringing phone. She picked up, Alya’ voice coming out of the speaker.

“Hey girl! Whatcha’ doin’?” Marinette immediately narrowed her eyes, her friend’s too playful voice giving her a bad feeling.

“I’m okay! I’m babysitting Manon as a favor for Miss Chamack. She’s being very exhausting though, I don’t know how long I can keep her occupied before she’ll start running all over the place.”

“I feel you! ‘Little angels’ can be hard to deal with sometimes. I could help if you want.”

“If you’re not too busy, I’d love the help of an expert, or at least some advice.”

“Perfect! Though you’ll have to come to me. Meet me at the park! We can have a picnic.” Marinette ended the call, a frown on her face. She had a feeling Alya was up to something and now she knew for sure. It was just a matter of finding out what. The young fashion designer suddenly noticed that Manon’s ‘emotional light’ was once again overexcited, so she hurried back, sighing in relief when she saw that the girl was just jumping on the sofa.

“Yay! Mireille won! Mireille won! I knew she was the best!”

“Hey Manon, there’s been a change of plans! We’re going to have a picnic at the park! We can even go on the merry-go-round.” Manon responded in her usually excited manner, running upstairs to grab her backpack from Marinette’s room.

* * *

Aurore was very unhappy with the outcome of the vote. _I was supposed to win not Mireille!_ Aurore stole a glance at the girl who was walking beside her before going back to being angry in her mind. _What were those people even thinking! Mireille is good with info about the weather but the only reason I exist is weather. I breath weather; I live weather; I AM weather!_ The two girls entered the lift and went down. _I wish she wasn’t here to ruin my chances!_ The elevator stopped, the lights going out and making the two girls scream from fright. The ceiling started to creak and then bend as if something was trying to break inside. Aurore pushed the door opening button hoping that maybe they could escape. The thing made its way inside and grabbed Mireille kicking and screaming when the doors finally opened.

“NO! STOP! I DIDN’T MEAN IT! COME BACK!” Aurore was terrified and on the verge of tears. She quickly exited the lift, not caring about the trophy Mireille dropped, and looked out the window, seeing the fox villain known as Volpina, going in the direction of the park. Holding onto her umbrella firmly and steadying her breathing, she decide to go after them.

* * *

Adrien was bored. He was in the middle of a photo shoot and Vincent was talking about spaghetti, a sign he recognized, saying that he too was beginning to wear out. The reason he was bored was because he just saw Alya a second ago and wanted a break to have a chat( _< Chuckle> Chat…_) with his friend.

“Oh no! No! The boy has eaten too much spaghetti! Ugh, we need more energy! More romance! We need … a girl!” Vincent ran to the people that gave him the idea in the first place : two teen girls and a little kid that were setting up a picnic. He pointed at the girl with fiery brown hair.

“You! I need an extra!”

“Who me?” _Oh my god this going way better than my plan!_

“Si! To pose with Mr. Adrien!”

“Oh no you don’t need me! I’m no good with modeling! You need her!” said Alya, dragging Marinette in front of her.

“What?! No! I’m good with making clothes, not modeling them!” grumped Marinette. Unfortunately for her, her reaction was just what the cameraman was looking for: a passionate personality to serve as a counterbalance to Adrien’s calm demeanor. Vincent snapped a photo in a millisecond, marveling at the work.

“Ridicolo! You have that fire in your eyes! Just look at this photo” said Vincent, showing the photo to her. Marinette was surprised by what she saw: in the photo she was accidentally smiling as she was half turned to Alya. She never did that. Marinette thought about that before something else popped up in her mind.

“You realize I have bags under my eyes and my hair is messy, right?” she asked the photographer.

“The messiness is not important, Adrien’s hair is messy too! The bags we can fix with a little makeup.” he responded as he motioned for the makeup artist to come and get rid of the bags under Marinette’s eyes.

From the distance Alya gave two thumbs up to a flustered Adrien. Manon was watching too before she realized something. 

“But Marinette promised I would go on the merry-go-round!” said the ‘little angel’.

“Don’t worry Manon I can go with you. I can even tell you the story of the **‘Goblin king’**!” she said in a spooky voice. The offer made Manon’s face brighten, completely forgetting about the fact she wasn’t going with Marinette as the two made their way to the merry-go-round.

Marinette had to admit this was fun! She didn’t have any problems with photo’s in general, but thought the photographer will be dissatisfied and give up. After she was placed next to Adrien, Vincent began taking photos. Adrien was even happier, fluidly entering his element and not making a fool out of himself in front of Marinette like he expected himself to.

The photo shoot was unfortunately stopped by the sounds of distress. Marinette and Adrien turned away from Vincent, the photographer stopping to look at what was going on as well, and saw Volpina dragging along a bunch of balloons, the strings trapping a girl, while people ran away. Marinette and Adrien quickly went to hide and then transformed, Chat Noir running after the villain while Lady Monarch hid in the midst of chaos. Before deciding to send her Fay to Alya she felt a stronger ‘emotional light’ radiating guilt and an overwhelming desperation to do something, to help! Smiling, Lady Monarch sent her Fay to her soon-to-be champion with this command:

“Fly away my beautiful Fay, and give this desperate weather girl peace of mind and the power to save her competitor!”

The Fay did as it was told and landed on the worn out girl’s umbrella. Aurore felt a feeling of warmth entering her body, the exhaustion from keeping up with the fleeing villain disappearing. She knew exactly what this meant. _This is my chance to make it right!_

“Lady Monarch, please help me save Mireille! I’ll do anything just please help!”

_“Very eager I see! Very well Climatika, I shall grant you the powers you need to save your friend. Just remember that I want Volpina’ necklace in return!”_

“I promise I’ll get you that necklace my lady! I’m coming Mireille!” said Aurore, the magical light covering her and changing her.

The people in the park calmed down and stared with hope as they saw one of Monarch’s champions form right in front of them, giving encouraging exclamations as the champion jumped into the air, opened her umbrella and let the wind from the east guide her. Unlike most other champions, who looked like they were straight out of a comic book, Climatika was dressed in a simple yet still eye popping attire : She wore a red hat with a dark blue band with white polka dots , a knee-length red skirt, dark blue stockings that turned into flat soled boots with the same pattern as her hat’s band, gloves that followed the same color scheme as the boots, a red blazer with puffy shoulders over a white shirt and a white silk scarf; her eyes were covered by a dark blue butterfly mask, the lower wings looking like lightning and, finally, her blonde pigtails had red highlights that made them look like drill heads. Her umbrella was dark blue and had a red-headed parrot handle.

The wind led Climatika in a big circle as the villain had made her way back to the +KIDZ studio. Chat was fighting Volpina, unable to get to Mireille.

“Good day Chat! My name is Climatika and I will be the one to assist you this fine afternoon. Now I will take care of the weather girl, so you play nice with the little fox please!”

Volpina and Chat stopped fighting and stared at the newcomer as she landed next to Mireille and magically untangled her from the illusionary balloons by touching the strings with the tip of the umbrella, the balloons turning to smoke.

“It is impolite to stare you two! On you go! Make sure to grab the necklace Chat!” the wind moved Chat’s hand towards Volpina and the villain instinctively dodged, sending a projectile towards Climatika, who opened her umbrella and blocked it before closing it again. Volpina spilt her attention between dodging the cat hero and attacking the champion, who was deftly parrying with her umbrella and using it to direct the wind and push her closer to Chat when she wasn’t attacking.

“Mireille, I wish to apologize to you for my lack of dignity. I should have taken my loss with more grace but I was angry that the public chose you over me.” 

“Aurore?” asked Mireille, recognizing her friend.

“My champion name is Climatika! Now you should get to safety and let me and Chat take on the villain. We’ll have a proper discussion later, alright?” Mireille nodded and left, right at the perfect time too, as Volpina was about to attempt taking the umbrella. Climatika jumped on top of the billboard and unleashed a typhoon on the villain, making a corridor for Chat to go through.

“I BELIEVE IT IS TIME TO END THIS CHARADE WOULD YOU NOT AGREE?!” shouted Climatika, her voice carrying over the sound of the strong winds. Chat didn’t respond, making his way towards Volpina and pouncing, managing to take the necklace. Unfortunately, both the necklace and the Volpina turned into smoke. The real Volpina pushed Climatika of her elevated platform and broke her umbrella, the Fay flying out if it and loosing it’s golden gleam. Chat wouldn’t let Volpina do what she did to the other butterfly, and with a shout of ‘Cataclysm!’ he ran towards the billboard and weakened its support. Volpina was just about to catch the butterfly when the billboard started to fall, causing her to fall off. Chat picked Aurore up and jumped away from the falling billboard, using his staff to slow them down. Once safely on the ground, the paramedics and reporters on the scene took charge. Aurore was a bit sad with herself but not too much. She may have failed, but that was only because the real Volpina was hiding. She would have managed to help Chat if they were certain in regardsto whome the real Volpina is. Aurore’s eyes were caught by the white butterfly that used to be her Fay, making her not notice the person that nearly tackled her in a hug. Aurore looked down and saw Mireille. She decided to hug her back, the butterfly landing on her head.

_I managed to fix my mistake! Till the next time my lady!_

* * *

Adrien made it back to the park and concomitantly Marinette came out of her hiding spot. The two teens joined Vincent, Alya and Manon, reassuring them that everything was alright.

The next day of school was met with the usual buzz of activity following a villain attack, the only difference was that it wasn’t about the attack itself. Marinette was pleasantly surprised to see her former champion sitting side by side with her rival and presenting the weather together. Apparently the people were so moved by Aurore’s story and decision to become a hero just so she could save her rival that they sent messages to the +KIDS TV studio to have her present the weather with Mireille _._ Most other champions had received a similar treatment, with her classmates being considered the best by everyone else at school and even Mister Ramier ending up being ‘overlooked’ by some policemen, something that brought that rare, genuine, unfiltered happiness in Marinette. The thing that made her happy was not the fact that all her champions were famous though, but the fact that they didn’t let it get to their head, making her feel so much more relieved of the choices she had made up until now. 

Author’s notes :

  * I think I made Climatika’s inspiration a bit obvious… Eh, it works!
  * I chose Climatika for her name because it sounds a little more heroic than ‘Stormy Weather’. That and ‘Sunny Weather’ just seemed too boring.
  * Next few chapters we’re taking a few steps away from cannon as I will do something that I really want to do – what that is, you’ll find out.




	16. Chapter XVI : There’s no sleep for the weary (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleepovers! They are fun and interesting, but Adrien has never had one. So Marinette excitedly decides to hold one of her special ones!  
> Meanwhile, in an uncharacteristic move, Volpina 'invites' our heroes to a place where they could fight in the night, with no tricks or any hostages. What's the foxes angle this time?

Adrien couldn’t believe his luck! A few days ago he got to be in a photo shoot with his crush and today he was going to have a sleepover with his friends. Considering that the Agreste Mansion had been attacked by Volpina not once, but twice, his father begrudgingly agreed to allow him to have it somewhere else. That somewhere happened to be at Marinette’s, the girl all but insisting when she heard that Adrien never had one before. That was perfect since he had a chance to confess to his crush.

After school was done that day the boy went home and packed for the sleepover after he finished his homework. Once that was done he still had some time before he was going to have that sleepover and so, since he was to excited, he decided to consume some of his energy as parkouring around Paris until he became exhausted. After that was done he went home, took the bag he had prepared and came out of his room, exciting the mansion and entering the car that was going to drive him the short way to Marinette’s home. His arrival coincided with that of Alya and Nino, the two teens similarly excited.

“Is it your first time having a sleepover too?” asked the blond.

“Nope, but Marinette’s sleepovers are always awesome!” said Alya.

“This isn’t my first time I’ve been to a sleepover, but this is the first time I’ve been to a ‘Marinette sleepover’!” said Nino, before he entered the bakery, followed by Adrien and Alya. The three greeted Marinette’s parents before making their way up to the young fashion designer’s room. When they entered they were greeted by a beautiful sight: Marinette’s room had fluorescent lighting, there were three sleeping bags laid on the floor, one green, one blue, one red. Besides that there was a small TV placed on the floor on the side of the room opposite of the desk, a gaming console, two guitars and a few video game cases placed near it. Finally, the chaise longue was used like a table for the popcorn, small cakes, tiny slices of toast and small bowls of tomato soup.

“Someone’s excited!” came the voice of Marinette, the teen opening the curtains to let light in. Marinette was already dressed in pajamas, namely a pair of white slippers, magenta pants and an oversized powder pink no-zip hoodie. The most striking feature was the walking stick with the rounded gold handle and black shaft.

“This looks cool as hell!” whispered Nino. Unbeknownst to him, he had fallen into a terrible trap.

“I thought hell was supposed to be hot, or are the flames decorative?” she said, making Adrien laugh and Nino and Alya groan.

“Can you not?” asked the blogger.

“You forgot the magic word: **Paw-ase**.” she replied, making Adrien laugh some more at the cat joke. She took note of this and followed up. “Also, I’m happy I’ve finally come across a cultured **sole**!” That was the final nail in the coffin, Adrien doubling over from laughing.

* * *

After Marinette’s jokes were done with and the three other teens were changed into pajamas, they decided to begin the evening by watching a film. Marinette had chosen ‘Real Steel’. Alya had already seen it, but she didn’t mind, having a good idea why her best friend chose it. Adrien was captivated by the film and how the two main characters’ relationship evolved. The movie wasn’t perfect, it had plenty of flaws that could be nitpicked, but the action and jokes were enough to gloss over them. After that Nino asked about the guitars and the two boys were introduced to one of the multiplayer games the young fashion designer had prepared: Guitar hero. Almost two hours were spent here since neither Adrien nor Nino wanted to give up on one-upping the other. I wasn’t until Marinette stopped the game herself did they move on to the other games. Marinette had prepared Alien isolation, but the only one that played was her, since she was the only one who could handle the pressure and atmosphere. Adrien had tried playing, but the teen he was too scared to crawl and ended up being killed by the alien multiple times. There were a few other games, such as Marvel vs Campcom 2, a lost gem called ‘Knack 2’, Batman NES, and an rpg called Mario and Luigi Bowser’s inside story. Once the games were done, the last remaining time before bed was spent sharing stories, the teen’s tired minds speaking things they wouldn’t normally do. The only one that didn’t open up as much was Marinette, the girl being frustrated to herself due to her inability to sleep **again**. Adrien was similarly disappointed because he wasn’t able to confess after all, his doubts making it impossible to even hint to it. It was probably for the best anyway, since Marinette had called it a night and told them she was going upstairs. (they were not welcome, that being the one rule they had to agree to).Adrien was very curious about what was upstairs, so he obviously asked.

“What do you think is up there?”

“It’s her garden…” responded Alya simply.

“Garden?” asked Adrien, now very curious.

“Marinette made a garden upstairs. She doesn’t let anyone in, not even me. Whenever she feels extra grumpy she goes there and comes out feeling better. I guess gardening works like some kind of therapy for her. It’s probably where she keeps all the butterflies too.”

“’butterflies’?”

“I don’t know man! Marinette is, ironically, some sort of butterfly whisperer. Sometimes she gets followed by the little buggers and they are very protective of her when they do.”

“That kinda sounds weird…”

“It is, but that’s because your new to it. She mentioned that it started happening when she was little and she didn’t question it at the time, since she loved butterflies. You should have seen my face when I first—“

“Guys, not to sound mean, but I think we should get **some** sleep.” intervened Nino. Alya and Adrien agreed and the teens went to sleep. Up in the garden Marinette was already asleep, the butterflies and Nooroo serving as a comfortable presence.”

* * *

_Adrien was driving home after a long day of work. Who knew being a teacher was actually difficult. It was alright though, since today was his shortest work day._

_He pulled over to his home, the garage door opening up and revealing his wife’s car there. Once inside he excited the car and entered the mansion, being greeted by his kid happily running towards him._

_“Papa!”_

_“Emma wait, the dress!” the little girl was followed by Marinette, who was limping with the help of her cane._

_“Hey Cupcake! How are you honey? Wasn’t Emma supposed to still be in school?”_

_“She was, but_ wake up _!”_

_“What?”_

_"W_ a _k_ e _u_ p _!_ ”

* * *

Adrien was startle awake by the feeling of being licked. His eyes open, he looked at where Plagg, the kwami’s green eyes glowing in the dark in a similar way to the room’s fluorescent lighting.

“What is it?” whispered the blond.

“You’ve got a message. Well, I’ve got a message.” replied Plagg.

“What message.” Plagg didn’t respond, as he hid under the covers. Before Adrien could ask why he did that a figure dropped down in front with a barely audible thump. The figure was covered by darkness, but the shinning white butterflies revealed some features, like a purple suit and blue hair. Adrien could almost recognize the figure, but the moment he tried to connect the dots his mind got all fuzzy. The figure turned and he decided to pretend to sleep. One of the butterflies rested on the figure’s hand and was turned yellow, before being sent toward the group. Adrien decided to open one of his eyes and saw the butterfly land on Alya’s phone, the blogger apparently having held on to it. There was a slow, small flash of light that quickly disappeared. Nino who had his back turned, still slept soundlessly. Lady Wifi woke up and rubbed her eyes with her free hand before looking in front of her and being overcome with awe that one would feel if they saw their personal hero. The champion got up, tiptoed quickly to the figure’s location and the two then excited out the window. After that Plagg came out of his hidey-hole and looked at the open window.

“Guess Nooroo got it too…” he murmured before Adrien gently tapped him on the head, making him turn around. 

“Was that Lady Monarch?” he asked.

“I would believe so.”

“We should probably go after them, right?”

“Nah, I have a message that’s telling us where to go and I bet Nooroo has the same one. We just need to rendezvous there!” Adrien nodded at Plagg’s response before tiptoeing out of the bedroom to transform. He came back as Chat and looked at Nino as he stopped in front of one of the windows. _Still asleep!_ he thought to himself as he left. It didn’t take him too long to find the location of where he was supposed to go. Apparently Volpina had sent him a message, telling him to ‘come get’ the necklace at a specific location. He plugged in the coordinates on his staff’s digital map ( _Seriously, how many options does this thing have?!_ ) and went there. When he got near he realized it was some sort of factory building and he saw Lady Wifi and what he assumed to be Lady Monarch near the front gate. Lady Monarch was standing calmly and Lady Wifi was circling her looking at her from every angle as if she was trying to imprint her image in her memory, a big smile plastered on her face.

“Only a six minute delay… You were in our vicinity or out patrolling when you got the message, right?” asked Lady Monarch when Chat landed near them. The butterfly hero didn’t even turn to look at him.

“Hey Chat! This is the coolest night ever! Not only do I get to meet Lady Monarch, but I also get to see you guys interact with one another!”

“Right! Although I’m curious, why are you here Lady Monarch? I thought you wanted to stay in the shadows.” asked the cat hero.

“Volpina sent me an invitation. How could I possibly resist?” replied the butterfly hero.

“But isn’t Volpina gonna know how you look like?”

“Not really. I’m not much of a fan of entering through front doors. I’ll go through the back, so unless she’s controlling her illusions from there I doubt she’ll even know I came.”

“Ooh! You’re so smart my lady! No wonder—“

“Lady Wifi! I know you’re excited to finally meet me in person, I am too, but could you **please** hold off the fangirling until after we fight Volpina?” she asked turning to the champion. Chat noticed she held a small paper bag in her free hand.

“Do you think we’ll win this time?” asked Lady Wifi, the champion suddenly serious.

“She closed herself off in a factory. It’d be a lot harder for her to escape… so, in short, yes!” she said as she let go of her cane (which stood perfectly straight on the ground) and took out a few berries from the bag to eat.

“Question: how come neither of you turned back yet?” asked Chat, who finally snapped out of his spectator state.

“I figured out a little trick: if you eat your kwami’s food of choice while transformed you can stall a power down. Now we should probably get inside.” said Lady Monarch as she grabbed her cane and flew away with the help of her butterflies.

Chat and Lady Wifi entered the factory from the front, being greeted by an echoing cackle the moment they closed the door…

Author’s notes:

  * This chapter is more on the lore side. This is where we find out more about Marinette's past and in the next chapter we will find out some more, along side another tidbit of information.I won't spoil it, so stay tuned for the next update because from then on things will never be the same!




	17. Chapter XVII: There really is no sleep! (Part 2)

“I don’t have a good feeling about this?” murmured Lady Wifi as she activated her torch option on her phone. Unlike most other champions Lady Wifi had gotten a significant upgrade since her first appearance: her black bodysuit was less shiny (to avoid being detected at night perhaps), her mask now had protective lenses and she now sported metallic white boots and gauntlets, her phone being attached to the left one.

Chat was very tense. Volpina never actually tried this hard to be smart, or creepy for that matter. Due to his cat theme, Chat didn’t actually need any light sources, since he had night vision, but that fact somehow made it more unsettling for him, as he would be able to see Volpina coming, as opposed to him getting scared the moment her attack lands, the anticipation making him worry so much more. The only thing that kept him from going over the edge was that Volpina always liked to throw as many things as she possibly could at them. He had no idea how wrong he was this time.

* * *

When she first got the message Lady Monarch realized something wasn’t right. It wasn’t because Volpina told them to come to this factory (she had tried pulling a similar stunt at a construction site and that worked out pretty well), but because what the message implied: she knew of the ‘Miracle channel’, the one way for miraculous users to communicate with each other simultaneously. Volpina obviously had no kwami to guide her, so the option of her finding out on her own didn’t even **enter** the window. There was only one option that made sense: someone showed it to her. The only person who could have knowledge about how the miraculouses acted was the person who stole the miracle box in the first place, the **fake** guardian…

Lady Monarch was stirred out of her thoughts when she heard Lady Wifi scream. The butterfly hero realized that Chat and her champion must have intercepted Volpina, basing that information by the obvious sounds of fighting. Lady Monarch hurried towards those sounds before stopping and deciding to do something else.

* * *

Chat was so very wrong about his earlier assumption. Volpina was **not** throwing stuff at them (well, she still was, but they were tiny things). Volpina had completely shifted gears when it came to her approach. Instead of showing herself and wrecking stuff to cause chaos around them, she was making clones and attacking by surprise. What was worse was how she was actually trying to be quite, instead of loudly calling them names. Lady Wifi was having an easier time compared to the cat hero, her time as a champion combined with her knowledge of heroes and with her civilian time spent getting her butt kicked by Marinette at fighting games having molded her fighting instincts down to three rules: 1. Always know where your enemy is; 2. Distance and long range are your friends; 3. Stay calm or you’ll choke. The cat hero and champion could agree on one thing though: Volpina fought like a woman possessed! Unlike the few other times they encountered her, she was actually putting a lot of effort into everything she did: her projectiles were better aimed, her clones were fewer but smarter and she did a very good job with getting out of view when she was spotted. Lady Wifi and Chat were sure that if things would continue the way they did, they would lose.

Which was why it came as a good surprise for the hero and champion when the factory came to life. Volpina, now visible, didn’t seem to look like herself. Her eyes were much colder, crueler and they shone a bright blue, instead of them being their ordinarily green-orange color. With the lights turned on she changed her strategy, making a bunch of clones before attempting to make her way deeper into the factory, Lady Wifi hot on her tail. The vixen hero was prevented from exiting the room by Lady Monarch, who came crashing through the doors launching Volpina back a few feet. The vixen villain got up almost instantly and was ready to attack when she stopped, her eyes becoming wide as a dopey smile formed on her face. This close to her, Lady Monarch felt awful, but her transformation also provided protection against the negative emotions, so her mind was alright, which allowed her to see that Volpina’s mask was completely white, which wasn’t before.

“Lady Monarch’s a teenager?” murmured Volpina, which pretty much gave the butterfly hero the clue she needed to piece together the puzzle. Volpina was not herself, but rather someone controlled her. Before she could say anything the person controlling Volpina cut her off.

“Tick tock!~” they said. Suddenly, Volpina twirled her clarinet and threw it backwards without even looking. Lady Wifi, who was behind the villain, managed to dodge the weapon with a well timed roll. When she got up and prepared to attack the villain, she heard a couple of beeps. The butterfly hero and her champion had been ignoring them, but now, with horror, they realized: there were sixty seconds left. Lady Monarch sent her butterflies at Volpina to distract her before running to Lady Wifi and dragging her out the room. The champion closed the door behind her and held it shut as the two turned back into their civilian forms. Alya suddenly felt her lady’s hand on her shoulder.

“I’m gonna feed my kwami pretty quick. Don’t. Turn. Round.” She whispered. Alya already knew what to say.

“Why not? I want to know who you are!”

“Listen, your blog—“ her lady was cut off by her tired laugh followed by a sigh.

“You would think I’d want that information on my blog… <sigh> It’s more complicated than that. Of course I would love to post on my blog your identity… but I thought about it a lot and realized it would be too much of a risk… My desire to know who you are is no longer based on that… You probably don’t know or even realize this, but being a fan of heroes in Paris was… pretty difficult! From what I’ve heard there used to be heroes in France, but they all disappeared for some reason. So I was stuck here, in a country where nothing special happen, knowing that there were heroes in some other places, like America… and then one day a figure clad in blue, black and white shows herself... she was a villain and with her appearance comes this veteran looking hero in a cat costume fighting her… My dream of being an investigative reporter that could interact with heroes no longer feels like a distant, impossible goal, instead being so close I could practically taste it… but then you show up, you with your intelligence and insight into what’s going on… you with your leading skills, tactical mind and one of the most stable moral compasses I’ve ever seen… on the day Volpina showed up you practically held my hand and invited me into your word of secrets and powers… a world where my actions prevented people from getting hurt… you mad e realize that **being** **a hero** is what I actually wanted… You made me part of your world **Lady Monarch** … let me make you part of mine!” Alya turned around.

* * *

Back when Chat fought Volpina’s clones at the Agreste mansion he had been able to put up a good effort, but he was eventually overwhelmed because he had no more room to dodge. His skill and physical strength had increased since then however, and that RPG he had played at Marinette had given him a way to actually fight better. All of the Volpina clones would turn to smoke the moment they would ‘feel pain’, accidental self harm included, as a result of that, Chat tailored his fighting style to focus on blocking, counterattacking and hitting the clones **before** they could hit themselves. This proved very good, the Volpina clones being cleared away much quickly, allowing him to sneak in a few dodges here and there. Another thing that he learned to do was keeping his distance. His staff was extendable and he could throw it, so that’s what he did. When one of the clones would get to close and his staff would be away, he would simply do something he was pretty bummed he didn’t figure out sooner: use his claws! From what he could gather, the miraculouses protected the user from harm without a fault, the only thing that didn’t block out being pain. As a result, he had a pretty easy time as he slashed through dozens of clones while walking on the catwalks that were present in the top part of the giant room.

He had finished pretty quickly the last clone and was just about to look and see if the real Volpina was still around when the light turned off again and he was greeted by a near constant barrage of shurikens, bullets, throwing knives. Some of them were stopped by Lady Wifi however, which was good since he thought the champion had left the room to run after the real Volpina.

* * *

“You’re my lady…” murmured Alya as she was pulled along by Marinette.A hailstorm of emotions was raging inside Alya's soul as she didn’t know how to feel: on the one side she felt ecstatic and wanted to hug her best friend forever, as this revelation proved to the blogger that her friend’s apparent ‘heart of gold‘ did in fact exist, but on the other she couldn’t help but feel weird. After her first transformation into a champion she had felt this unending loyalty towards her, even when in civilian form and the weird thing was that she had felt closer to Marinette in terms of friendship, the young fashion designer seemingly being a lot more comfortable around her, even more than she usually was. The fact that she felt closer to Marinette meant that on a subconscious level, she already knew she was her lady, which meant that pretty much everyone else who had been her champion must be feeling that way too. The fact that she felt more comfortable **after** she became a champion made her think that those feelings were somehow artificial.

“I’m ready.” said Nooroo a bit awkwardly, startling Alya from her thoughts. Marinette let go of Alya’s hand and turned around, a passive smile on her face.

“…Any remarks before we go back to help Chat?” she asked. At that moment Alya’s emotional storm finally broke her down and she started crying, whether it was from happiness or sadness, she did not know.

“Y-You’re the b-best friend I could e-ever have asked for!” she said without looking at her. Then something that she didn’t expected happened: Marinette hugged Alya. It wasn’t one of those side hugs she normally did either. Marinette was resting her head on Alya’s left shoulder as she hugged her with her free arm.

“You’re the best friend I could ever have asked for as well… I was in a very dark place and you pulled me back to light…” she said. The day she was obviously referring to was the first time they met.

* * *

Alya had just arrived in class. This was a new year, new school, new everything and she had the chance to actually make friends, or at least that’s what her parents asked her to. She didn’t really was the friend type. Don’t get her wrong, Alya was plenty sociable and outgoing, but she had a tendency to blow things out of proportion and butt heads with people. Case and point: not even a few minutes in class and she was already squabbling with what she quickly identified as the class bully and her posy of one. The thing that aggravated Alya the most was that nobody intervened and preferred to chat amongst themselves in hushed tones. She understood that nobody would want to talk or help out the new girl who they don’t know, but to not try to stop what was clearly bullying?! Alya was so angry she—

Suddenly, a loud impact sound of metal hitting wood was heard through the classroom, scaring everyone and making them stop talking. Alya looked down a few inches in front of her and saw a metal cane on the desk. She followed the cane until she came across its owner. The girl was dressed in a black hoodie (a copper brooch placed right under the hood 'collar') covered by a grey denim jacket. Her black( _Blue?_ ) hair was messy, looking like she didn’t bother to straighten it after waking up, she had the beginning of bags under her eyes appearing and her face showed the expression of someone who was done with everything. The girl turned her attention to the blond, turning just so Alya couldn’t see her face.

“…I’m tired… this is my desk… if you have anything mean to say Chloe, how about you write it down and throw it into the trash can, or, and here’s a crazy idea: YOU STOP YAPPING AND LIVE MY DESK MATE ALONE!” her sudden shouting startled everyone again, but Alya stood there with a dumbfounded smile. Fear passed on the blonde’s face before being replaced by frustration as she left. The blue haired girl ( _Her hair is definitely shinning blue._ ) let go of her cane and placed her bag on the left side of the desk before she made her way around it, limping and leaning on it. She sat down and Alya decided to seat down as well. The blue haired girl looked exhausted.

“Don’t mind ‘daddy’s princess’ over there. If she ever tries to bully you again just tell me ok?... I’m Marinette by the way…”

“Alya! Thanks for having my back girl! Not many are willing to do stuff like that, especially as loud as you did.” she gave the now named Marinette a side-hug. The blogger felt the girl tense before she relaxed again. She let go and watched as she put her arms on the desk and rested her head on them.

“Wake me when the teacher comes…” she said. Unfortunately for her, the next moment the door opened and the teacher spoke, making Marinette sit up army straight, her eyes still closed however, which made Alya giggle.

* * *

Marinette transformed back into Lady Monarch and she immediately received a message: ‘Cats love boxes! See you there! ;)’. Lady Monarch laughed and motioned for Alya to follow. She had to admit, seeing her friend and lady walk without a cane looked a bit strange now, yet fitting. The hero and civilian stopped in front of the storage room, Alya chuckling.

“What?” asked Lady Monarch as she turned the butterfly from her cane into a Fay.

“’Cats love boxes!’ Where’s the one place in a factory where you could find a bunch of boxes: the storage room.” replied Alya.

“I know, right? I was quite impressed by Chat’s moment of ingenuity!... Wait, it took you that long to realize what the message was about?” she asked, feeling a bit offended.

“Hey, puzzles are your thing. I deal with the who, what and why?” defended Alya.

“That’s the reason you’re **Lady** **Wifi**!” said Lady Monarch as she gave her the Fay, turning her into Lady Wifi. The two entered the storage room just as Chat did, the cat hero being followed by a bunch of loud Volpina clones. Lady Monarch nodded to her champion and she nodded back before placing down her ‘Speedup hover’ and attacking most clones with pause symbols, the projectile cutting threw them like it was a saw. Chat was very relieved to see the champion, but then resumed his fight stance when she reached the ground, backing away when she tried to get close.

“What’s my favorite food?” he asked, confusing Lady Wifi.

“What?”

“Answer the question.”

“Fried chicken— Are you seriously goofing off at a time like this?!” she asked in disbelief.

“No! He just wanted to know it wasn’t another trick of mine.” Said the voice of Lady Wifi from behind the too. The champion turned and saw a copy of herself lying sideways on boxes, her head being propped up on her left arm. The mirage dissipated, revealing Volpina as she made more clones, firework rockets, boomerangs, throwing knives and shurikens, all sent towards them. The two dodged with precision, Lady Wifi noticing her lady climbing up the boxes to get to Volpina. She smiled and told Chat they should try to run away, misdirecting Volpina.

Having climbed up the boxes, Lady Monarch silently made her way towards the possessed Volpina and prepared her cane. Then, an idea she couldn’t resist popped up. She held her cane by the tip and positioned the handle a few inches behind Volpina’s head.

“FOUR!” she shouted, hitting Volpina’s and launching her down to the ground. The possessed vixen villain caught herself and looked up, seeing Lady Monarch jump down and pointing her cane tip at her as if she was holding a sword.

“Sneaky…” she murmured as she prepared the clarinet.

“Weird… I thought foxes were supposed to have good hearing.” Replied the butterfly hero, challenging her. The possessed Volpina charged and began attacking with her clarinet, Lady Monarch expertly blocking or dodging every attack. The brooch beeped, signifying that there were six minutes to her transformation. This distracted her, giving the possessed Volpina the chance to disarm her. The possessed Volpina then thrusted her clarinet forward into the hero’s face, but Lady Monarch caught it just before the blade’s tip touched her mask. The butterfly hero pulled the clarinet from the vixen villain’s hands, causing her to fall forward, and hit her head with the side that didn’t have any blade, causing her great pain as she fell backwards. She got up just in time to see her current enemy snap the clarinet in two on her leg. She snarled.

“Sorry fake guardian, but that’s what happens when you corrupt a miraculous. If you wanted someone competent you should have never corrupted the miraculous. Then again someone competent wouldn’t listen to you either so…” The possessed Volpina heard the sound of footsteps. Realizing she would be defeated, she decided to play her last card.

“This is the end of the road for you Volpina! <Laugh> I always wanted to say that!” said Chat.

“…Yes… I suppose it is… I won’t give up the necklace willingly, if that’s what your hoping for.” she said as she looked at Lady Monarch straight with her glacial stare.

“No problem, we don’t need to take the necklace, we just need to destroy it! Cataclysm!” Chat ran towards Volpina.

“CHAT, NO!” ordered Lady Monarch, making her crime fighting partner slow down and lose concentration. That’s exactly what the possessed Volpina wanted, as she quickly grabbed his arm without looking, the cat hero having come close enough for her to reach, and she touched his hand to the floor, causing the destructive energy to channel through the whole building, the room they were in at the moment soaking up the most of it and beginning to cave in.

The possessed Volpina made her escape successfully, the heroes and champion being unable to track her down after that stunt. 

Author’s notes :

  * Nothing will be the same, ever!
  * I remember how one of the original ideas of Miraculous was that Alya knew who Marinette was. I really liked the idea, and so, here it is. I’ve also added some insight into how Marinette and Alya met and their current relationship. Alya, unlike cannon, is less hotheaded, due to her being the voice of reason for Marinette during the first year they were friends. As you can see, Marinette had become really grumpy and angry, to the point of scaring her entire class who knew her as a nice person. I’ll give an explanation as to why she changed later, there’s no joy in a mystery if you find out everything at once.




	18. Chapter XVIII : The Tome and the pocket watch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Volpina is back at it again, but this time she's not looking for Chat's or Lady Monarch's miraculous. No, this time she's looking to steal a pocket watch?  
> Today Marinette will learn what it means to make a decision without giving herself permission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings guys! Today we're continuing on with the story, but before you go down to read I'd like to thank every single one of you for your kudos and (if you did this) for commenting and speaking your mind about the main story and the shorts. I hope you have a fantastic time!

“So we’re not supposed to destroy it?” asked Chat.

“No, you knucklehead! Didn’t your kwami tell you about this?!” asked Lady Monarch angrily.

“Not really…” replied the cat hero sheepishly. Lady Monarch sighed.

“Typical… what should I expect from the literal god of destruction?” she asked herself before speaking louder so Chat could hear: “All miraculouses have the same function: they give the wielders a fraction of the kwami’s power, while allowing said kwami tangibility in our world. Without the miraculouses the kwamis become incorporeal beings like they were when they first came into being. With that said, Volpina’s source of power is the same as our own. The **difference** is that hers has been corrupted in some way. As a result we need to take the miraculous away from her so I could rid it of its corruption.”

“You can do that?” asked Chat, the cat hero trying to get as much information out of his partner. Who knew if and when they would meet again personally?

“Possibly and not directly. That’s the ladybug’s specialty. I could, potentially, make a champion with the power to cleanse a miraculous of corruption.”

“Why didn’t you try before?”

“It’s not exactly an exact science.” said Lady Monarch making Chat snicker at the sneaky joke.

“So, to sum up: destroy the miraculous – bad; capture the miraculous and meet up to give it to me at the next possible opportunity – good. Get it?” asked the butterfly hero.

“Got it m’lady! <Yawn> we should probably go to sleep – or at least me. I have school tomorrow.” said Chat turning and preparing to jump away for home.

“Bad move.” said Lady Monarch, Chat not seeing her when he turned back. _What did she mean by bad… oh!_ Chat facepalmed, as he realized what he did wrong: he gave a clue about his approximate age.

* * *

Marinette was sitting on a simple wooden chair inside her Garden, one of the movable tables next to her having a bunch of papers strewn on it, some showing photographs of the tome’s pages while others were blank. The trapdoor opened and her parents’ entered the garden. Marinette got up from her chair and limped to her parents when one of the butterflies notified her of this and said:

“Oh sorry! I guess the time for you to go on your 21 years wedding anniversary date is now?” Her father laughed good-naturedly."

“We know you’re busy with the tome Marinette! We just wanted to make sure you won’t be leaving before Miss Chamack arrives to pick up her order.” said her mom.

“Don’t you two worry ‘boot a thing! I’ve got nothing else to do until Miss Chamack arrives, so you can count on me!” The three had a family hug before Tom and Sabine left, once again reminding Marinette to stay at home and wait for Miss Chamack.

“Wow, married for two decades and a year. That’s amazing, right Marinette?”

“It really is… Mom and dad meeting was one of the best things to ever happen probably.”

“I think it is! Without them meeting there was no way for my mistress to exist! But I have a question: didn’t you have to get that poster to your friends?” asked Nooroo, confused.

“The… poster?” asked Marinette, feeling her blood run cold. Nooroo nodded and pointed to a rolled up piece of material sitting on another table nearby. Marinette face palmed murmuring ‘I forgot’. She grabbed the poster and gave it a quick look before making to leave. She then stopped, as if she remembered something, and whistled loudly, getting the attention of every butterfly in the room.

“Guys! I need you to get this to my friends at The Trocadero and in return I'll get some fresh flowers for you. Can you do that for me?” Four brave butterflies answered the call, picking up the poster and flying out through an open window. Marinette made her way back to the chair and sat down, a pleased look on her face. She looked back down at the organized mess on the table and resumed her work in trying to decode the ancient text of the tome. She then pulled out her phone and placed it on the cluttered table.

Ever since Marinette had gotten it, the tome, or the ‘Miraculous spellbook’ as she later learned, had been a source of inspiration for her fashion designs, but when Nooroo informed her that the book contained information about all the miraculouses, their functions, magic spells and many more, she had made it her mission to try and decipher everything. At first things progressed at a snail’s pace, as little Marinette couldn’t contact experts and had no idea what the language was. It later turned out that the tome was encoded in multiple archaic languages which were written in a symbol alphabet as well as a few other ciphers for good measure. Even though the work to decipher all the pages in the tome was tiring she never gave up, often working on it when her leg pain didn’t allow her to sleep as well as any other time she could. And all this work paid off in a big way, as Marinette is currently almost done with half of the book. She was very proud of herself for her accomplishment but she never once forgot that without the help of Alix and her dad she wouldn’t have gotten as far as she did in such a short amount of time.

* * *

Tom and Sabine were seated at a table in the restaurant, happily waving at their daughter’s classmate and friend Alix. The teen waved back before turning to her curious father and explaining what that was about.

“They’re Marinette’s parents!”

“Oh! Right! You did mention her parents were bakers!” he waved back at the couple as well before turning back to his daughter, who was wearing a semi-formal attire, the bag at the bottom of her feet indicating that she will go change after they’re done with the discussion.

“Happy birthday my dear! Now do you know why I wanted to meet with you again here, at this exact table.” he said, tapping the table with his fingers before his hand started twitching. Alix noticed this, her face showing concern, before she answered her question.

“I’m guessing it has to do with the watch, right?” she asked as she removed the family heirloom from one of her pockets.

“Yes! I wanted to congratulate you on your responsible attitude concerning the protection of this watch. It hasn’t even been scratched while you held on to it. In fact, it looks shinier now that I see it up close again.” the comment made Alix stand slightly straighter, a proud smile appearing on her face.

“I took the time to polish it! It really has been a good idea to give this to me dad. It feels so awesome to just open it and look at the time!”

“It is a thing of beauty indeed! I’m very happy that you’re taken so much care of it. You remind me of my grandmother when she gave it to me. She thought me to look after it like it was the most important thing in the whole world.” he said, following it with his gaze as his daughter put it back in the pocket she took it out from.

_You have no idea how precious it is…_ thought Alix, a mischievous smile passing her face for only a second. Alix’s phone buzzed, indicating that she’s got a message.

“Are your friends waiting?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to bail on you. It’s cool!”

“No, no! Go ahead! Before you go though, I wanted to give you this!” Alix’s father leaned down and grabed something from under the table with his left hand, revealing it with flourish: it was an aerodynamic helmet. Alix gasped and got up to hug her father, happily taking the helmet and putting it on to see how it fit.

“This is just what I needed for my race today! Thanks dad!”

“No problem! I know you’d have no problem with the race but it never hurts to be extra prepared.”

The two parted ways, Alix going to change and then to get to The Trocadero.

* * *

“I’m really sorry I couldn’t be there guys! I overbooked myself but it was for my parents so I couldn’t say no!” apologized Marinette. All of her classmates responded encouragingly, not minding that Marinette wasn’t physically there since she video phoned them. She actually video phoned Adrien but those are just details that nobody cared about, **especially** not him.

“It’s alright Marinette, we understand! Although how did the butterflies know where to drop the poster. Are they magical like you?” asked Rose, making Alya stiffen. Before the blogger could cover for her friend Marinette responded in a cheeky way with:

“Oh, they’re pretty magical, not unlike me, right guys?” all the teens there were treated to the cute sight of butterflies landing on Marinette’s head, shoulders and one on her nose, making her sneeze.

“...I hope the poster is okay, by the way! I made it for Alix so we could cheer her on while she wins!” Everyone gave an excited cheer at that, except for Kim.

“You all picked the wrong side to cheer on. Looks like Alix isn’t even showing up! Probably too chicken to race an extreme athlete like me!”

“You wanna bet cocky?! You wish I wasn’t coming so you wouldn’t lose and have to give up on making more dares!”

Everyone cheered for Alix as she made her appearance. She wore her trusty goggles, black shirt with a white cog symbol, black leather jacket with neon green snakes ‘coiled’ around the sleeves, leather pants, her new pair of roller skates that were already showing signs of wear, and her new aerodynamic helmet. The two got into position and began to race. The winner was clear from the start, as Alix was already in first place by the time they came back for the second first lap. _Two more laps and I win three to zero!_ thought Alix, the girl moving around slightly faster than normal because of her helmet. She did get a bit cocky, which caused her athletic competitor to get ahead.

In the middle of the race Marinette had closed her video chat with Adrien and opened it after a minute on Alya’s phone, which didn’t sadden the blond teen at all. Nope! He wasn’t sad!

* * *

Unbeknownst by everybody there, Lila was looking at them from a safe distance, a thoughtful expression on her face. _Master said that skater girl had the watch and that this was a good time to take it. Though thinking about it, if I do this now, in front of everyone, the heroes may be tipped off that she has a miraculous... Screw it, I don’t want to anger master again!_ She shuddered, before turning into Volpina, thankful that nobody was around to see her.

* * *

Alix won the race, Kim only staying in first for the second lap. Everyone was happy she won because this meant no more dares from Kim. The happiness and excitement was short lived however, as Paris’ resident villain made her appearance causing her usual chaos. Everyone took cover to shield themselves from the onslaught of random object thrown their way, Adrien and Alix taking separate covers from everyone else. Alix felt something shift in her jacket’s pocket and she looked down, instinctively shushing the little creature.

Adrien looked around the tree he was hiding behind and watched as Volpina seemed to be looking for someone specific instead of randomly attacking people.

“She seems to be targeting something… I really hope the thing that happened a few nights ago… What do you think Plagg?” Adrien turned around and found himself face to face with Plagg, who was eating Camembert leisurely. “We don’t want you to get a tummy ache, so by all means Plagg, eat slower.” he said sarcastically, frustrated with his kwami’s carelessness for the situation.

“Funny joke! Sorry I forgot to laugh. I needed the cheese to **recharge** , thank you!” he responded before downing the whole piece. “Ready now! And I have a feeling that fighting her will stop the problem.” he added. Adrien shook his haed with a smile on his face.

“Plagg! Claws out!” he ordered. Plagg entered the ring, the magical energy flaring from it, allowing Adrien to create the suit, cat ears, mask and then the tail, completing the transformation.

* * *

When the race began Marinette actually stopped her work to watch it, however she had to stop the video call when a large magical portal appeared inside The Garden. The next moment, a person dressed in a black metallic bodysuit that covered every inch of her body, green lights all over the bodysuit forming two big circuit designs, one on the back and one on the front, connected by the few lines that were on her legs and arms. On her feet she wore a pair of… air shoes for a lack of better description, these shoes allowing her to glide across the ground before she promptly hit a table and flew a few feet before hitting the window and sliding down to the floor. _Good thing these are reinforced…_ thought the young fashion designer. Finally she wore a helmet that covered her whole head. It was slightly pointy at the back at the back, the point pointing upwards, in front of it were four separate green lights with yellow lights inside them that formed the shape of butterfly wings.

“Are you done checking me out my lady?” asked the champion seeming amused. Marinette blushed a bit, not looking amused.

“Who are you? Besides one of my champions of course.”

“I’m Alix, but I’d rather go by Timebender. You sent me from the near future to warn you— not you-you, mind you, but future you, you know?” Marinette stared at her, the migraine inducing sentence being very clear to the young fashion designer.

“…I gave you time powers… that is the most stupid!...<sigh> Ok! What are your powers exactly? If I sent you from the future that means you time travel. Anything else?” she asked as Timebender got up.

“Yeah! I can also affect progression of time around me. That’s only happening here though, since I need to talk with you and you need to pick up the phone and video chat Alya. I should be going though. As fast as I am, if I don’t leave now I’ll end up not making it in time!” she said before jumping in the air, exiting through the open ceiling. Marinette picked up her phone and called Alya.

* * *

Timebender was nearing her destination with frightening speed. She arrived just in time to find her past self being targeted by Volpina, Chat doing his best to hold her off. The champion sped off in their direction, stopping right in between the hero and villain, catching the latter’s weapon and pulling it from her hands.

“Fetch doggy!” she said as she gingerly threw the weapon near the edge of the road, the clarinet landing just a few inches from the Seine. Volpina yipped and ran for the weapon, Chat wanting to follow but the champion stopping him. “Don’t worry, she’ll come back. I needed to do that to buy time.”

“Time for what?” asked past Alix.

“For that.” Timebender pointed upwards and both Chat and past Alix looked up to see a Fay land on the girl’s helmet, the butterfly symbol appearing soon after.

_“Alix, it’s me Marinette! I’m Lady Monarch! Don’t say anything! I’m gonna transform you into Timebender and you’ll need to go back in time to… approximately three minutes before Volpina arrived. You’ll also need to tell me to video chat Alya.”_

“That seems specific!”

_“I know, but it’s for—“_

“’—preserving the timeline of events’! I got it my lady.” Timebender glared a little at past Alix for what she said, prompting her to shut up as she was transformed into her champion form. “Ok, I’ll be going now!” Timebender quickly made her exit, ‘rolling’ with her air shoes and attempting to build up as much speed as possible. She had to slow down however, as a clone of Volpina appeared out of nowhere.

“Going somewhere?” asked the clone.

“YEAH SHE IS!” shouted the other Timebender as she crashed through the clone, making it turn to smoke the moment it made contact. “You can just speed through ‘em! Go go go!” Instructed the champion, making her past self continue on her way. Timebender rolled as fast as she could, eventually leaving The Trocadero behind and entering the street. While not the best medium to build up speed due to the cars, Timebender had no other choice, since there were no other free runways… _Except I could—Yes, it could work!_ The champion made her way back to The Trocadero, running into some Volpina clones to piss off the villain before positioning herself in front of the straight bridge going over the Seine and leading to the Eiffel tower. The champion begins ‘skating’ and builds up speed. Suddenly, electrical energy begins to emanate from her air shoes and a circular portal appears in front of her. Timebender concentrates on the time and place she was asked to get to as she enters the portal. A few seconds are spent inside a white void before another portal appears and Timebender comes out of it, hitting a table with some blue suit thing on it gets that gets launched into the air, splatting on the widow like a bug before sliding down on the floor and turning to lay on her back. From her position she can see Marinette, looking at her with a mixture of confusion, seriousness and intrigue as her eyes danced up and down Timebender’s body before stopping. The champion put her arms behind her head and crossed her feet as she asked:

“Are you done checking me out my lady?” In response Marinette blushed, making her smile at the feet she pulled: making the unflappable girl loose her cool.

“Who are you? Besides one of my champions of course.” asked Marinette sternly.

“I’m Alix, but I’d rather go by Timebender. You sent me from the near future to warn you— not you-you, mind you, but future you, you know?” As soon as the words left her mouth she face palmed. _You couldn’t have made it **more** complicated, could you? _she berated herself. Thankfully the young fashion designer understood.

“…I gave you time powers… that is the most stupid!...<sigh> Ok! What are your powers exactly? If I sent you from the future that means you can time travel. Anything else?” she asked as Timebender got up. The champion thought for a few seconds before the words to describe her other power came to her.

“Yeah! I can also affect progression of time around me. That’s only happening here though, since I need to talk with you and you need to pick up the phone and video chat Alya. I should be going though. As fast as I am, if I don’t leave now I’ll end up not making it in time!” she said before jumping in the air, exiting through the open ceiling. Marinette picked up her phone and called Alya. After that she heard the sound of the bakery’s bell, indicating that Miss Chamack had come to take the cake.

* * *

After her past self managed to successfully leave, Timebender’s only mission was to get Volpina's necklace. Her powers were practically made for that, since her speed allowed her to plow through clones and all other constructs the villain created. As a result of that Volpina decided to change strategy: instead of making clones of herself she made clones of Chat, confusing Timebender and slowing her down to a crawl due to her not wanting to hurt the real Chat by accident. To make matters worse, all the Chat clones were fighting each other, meaning that there really was no way to tell them apart. Timebender suddenly felt a blade on her neck and a hand on her shoulder.

“Remember this? I fetched it for you. Now tell me where you have the Fay.”

“Ever heard of weight?” the non sequitur made Volpina pause.

“What?” she finally asked.

“Didn’t think so!” Timebender proceeded to stomp on Volpina’s foot, making her turn to smoke. “Thought she felt too light…” she murmured as she decided to screw the odds of hitting Chat and plow through the clones. At the same time she heard the shout of Cataclysm and a big black cloud of fowl smelling smog covered her field of vision. Fortunately, her helmet had the function to filtrate air as well as provide heat vision. That is how she noticed that all the Chat clones had a lower body temperature compared to the original. As a result, she was able to simply clean the area of all clones, making sure to keep the original in her field of vision at all times. There was only one Chat clone left, and unlike all the others this one had a almost normal body temperature, leading Timebender to believe it was Volpina in disguise. A well placed staff hit proved her suspicion when the mirage dissipated, leaving Volpina behind. The vixen villain decided that today was just not her day and ran away. Time bender attempted to follow her, but she transformed in the middle of the chase, which caused Alix to lose stability as all the speed she had was still there, only lacking the enhanced reflexes to use it. Chat ran after the girl and made sure she was ok. (She was. Her butt just hurt from having slid on the ground.) Knowing his time limit was going to kick in Chat left too, finding a hiding place from where he came out as Adrien.

* * *

After what happened today everyone felt that they should just go home before anything else happened, except for Alya. Before Alix could leave to go home as well she was stopped by the blogger, who was holding her phone for Marinette to video chat.

“We need to talk.” she simply said. Alix knew she was in for a long talk, so she offered to come over, Marinette readily agreeing and Alya coming as well. The blogger was a surprisingly durable runner, she learned, as she was able to keep up the pace with her even though she was on her roller skates. 

Author’s notes :

  * “Tense 1983 Go go go”. It’s very funny and, if you have no idea what that’s about, then google it. I promise you’ll not regret it. That's the melody I listened to while making this chapter and, I imagine, how Chai will feel after he finds out what happened the one time Volpina tried to get the watch.
  * In the next Chapter we’ll get to the meat of things regarding Alix’s watch. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, please don’t google it and ruin the surprise. You’ve got something to google right above if you want a good laugh.
  * I really liked writing this episode. Originally this was way darker, but then I thought that I shouldn’t do the very bad thing that I did to Alix.
  * If you’ve noticed, Alix has a completely different outfit than her cannon counterpart. That’s because it is my idea of a transition outfit into her adult state. Alix is **nowhere near** as tall as her adult self (yet) and there are a few pieces of the outfit that you’ll find similar to adult Alix, like the shirt. Her hair isn’t died red yet, but she does have the pixie cut. She also has the goggles, and there’s a story behind those that you’ll get to see in the future.




	19. Chapter XIX : A few discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Think of this as a collection of kind of character centered shorts, all packaged and made into a breather episode. Well, mostly breather...

A very sad and apprehensive Lila was making her way towards the place she and her master had agreed to meet at this time. She had failed in her mission of recovering the bunny miraculous and she was sure that her master would be angry again. He had been exceptionally patient with her (except for that one incident) and had even provided her with battle strategies for her to follow, stressing his need for one of Lady Monarch’s butterflies when she showed no promise in capturing the cat or butterfly miraculous.

Lila transformed into Volpina on the way to the destination, using her ‘invisible in plain sight’ power to her advantage as she went around the guard that was walking through The Louvre. She walked to the museums vault and entered the already open door. She transformed back to her civilian self and looked at her master. He was as silhouetted as ever, the scorpion miraculous (a bolo tie) shinning and filling the room with white-brown light. While she couldn’t see his face she knew he was not pleased. 

“I’m guessing you didn’t get the bunny miraculous?” he asked, coldly.

“No. The girl somehow… got away from me. She was turned into a champion and traveled back in time to ensure she get’s turned into one… I think. After the fight I decided to follow her, but she went into a dead end and disappeared.” This was the wrong thing to say apparently, as her master hit the table hard with his hand, splinters flying off as it was broken in half.

“She knows…” he got up from his chair and walked towards Lila, making her walk backwards until she was stopped by a wall. He seemed to look down on her, his left hand reaching towards her necklace, before moving away as he went towards one of the shelves containing books. He took one out and started leafing through it.

“The great Sun Tzu once said that ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.’ Currently, all we know about our enemies are their powers and that they will appear when you make trouble or when ‘you’ invite them. Besides that we know that they patrol during the evenings. That is all. The reason you keep failing is because we do not know our enemies. Not only that, but their winning streak is making them confident. We need to crush that confidence, that way we could weaken their resolve and maybe then we will win. In order to do that we need to change targets. Controlling you every time I want to give them hell means I asked for your help **uselessly**. I didn’t do that, did I?”

“N-no master!” Lila could still remember how she felt that night, and her master seemingly wanting to take back her miraculous meant she will feel all the pain of loneliness again. She didn’t want that… _Even though I probably deserve it._ she thought to herself before shaking her head. _No my psychologist said I shouldn’t think like that!_

“Good! There are a few objects that should be easier to obtain than the miraculouses. Retrieving them should be easier, starting with this.” He showed Lila a drawing from his notebook, the drawing consisting of a piece of paper with hieroglyphs on it.

“B-but isn’t that s-stealing master?” she asked meekly.

“No. We are only borrowing these objects. Once I have all the miraculouses on my person we will put them back where they belong. Also I think calling me master is getting a bit old. From now on you should call me… Chai! Yes, that sounds fitting…” said the man creepily before realizing she was still in the room and continuing. “Take the homework that… is now on the ground… and have a good evening!” he said as he helped her pick up the pages that scattered after he split the table in half.

Lila left the museum vault. Her mas— Chai had instructed her to wait. And so that’s what she will do. That and do the homework he prepared for her. When she agreed to this ‘fake villain’ stuff she thought it would be a lot cooler. But being scared half to death and having ‘homework’ to do was a bit boring, even if the ‘homework’ was about strategies she could employ on old and new champions.

* * *

Chai picked up a brown bag before standing back down on his chair, a little floating figure coming out of the miraculous, the white-brown light fading away, basking the room in darkness. The only source of light visible was the small brown kwami, who was smiling as he turned around and opened the bag, beginning to eat the popcorn inside.

* * *

“Duusu was my best friend out of all the kwamis. She always knew what to say to make me feel better. It really helped that our miraculouses were given to people that were considered to be above from anyone else: Zeus and Hera, Jupiter and Venus, Yudi and Doumu, as well as many others. It’s actually because of our miraculouses that gods and demigods like Achilies, Hercules, Arcas, Arjuna, Hyperion, Vulcan and Flora existed, them being champions and…” Marinette was happily listening to her cinnamon roll as he talked about his past. There were rare instances when Nooroo was this talkative and she really enjoyed them, especially if her leg pain didn’t let her sleep at the same time.

“I also got along with Tikki and Longg, but I’m pretty sure everyone liked her. Longg was very regal, but unlike Pollen he wasn’t submissive. He also was… what’s the word you use?... proper?”

“Are you referring to him being very formal?”

“Yes!”

“Then that’s the word.”

“Thank you! As I was saying, he was proper, but not submissive like Pollen. He also liked to speak of the many adventures he and his masters had when he was out and about. He greatly enjoyed speaking about Sun in particular.”

“That sounds nice Nooroo! Although I was wondering, who is this Tikki? I know her name and that she’s the kwami of creation but that’s about it. You never speak much of her.” Marinette’s made the wrong move in this conversation, noticing that her kwami had lost the momentum he had.

“O-oh! … um… Well she is kind of in a league of her own with Plagg. I didn’t talk with her a lot. The two are usually called upon when the situation would be dire, like if my miraculous or Duusu’s were used by evil people, or another evil being with great power came out of the shadows. I’m actually surprised by the fact that the last guardian lost the cat miraculous.” he stated, thinking about that.

“Right! About that, can we not get in touch with this guardian? He must realize that at least one of his miraculouses was stolen. Maybe we can get some more help from him. This constant back and forth is very tiring and dangerous, especially since I now have two people who know that I’m Lady Monarch.” Marinette replied as she closed her eyes, thinking back to the discussion she had with Alix. The girl had revealed she had the bunny miraculous in her possession, which was another headache altogether. She and Marinette struck a deal on that matter though: The bunny superhero will not interfere in any capacity, the risk of the bunny miraculous falling into the hands of their collective enemy being a major on.

“...Mistress?... Did I wake you up? I’m sorry if I did.” said Nooroo, startling Marinette out of her thoughts, the kwami having realized his mistake too late. Marinette looked at him coldly.

“What did you call me?” she asked. The kwami picked up on his mistake and rectified it, terrified.

“S-sorry Marinette…” The young fashion designer sighed before cupping the little being and petting his head gently. Tears formed in her eyes and she let them roll down her cheek.

“I-I’m sorry as well. It’s just that everything is suddenly stressful: There is a villain roaming all of Paris; the cat miraculous suddenly made its appearance and I don’t know if that’s good or bad since it seems it wasn’t the guardian’s work; there are now two of my champions that know who I am, one because of my incompetence, the other because of the stupid rules of time and I’m afraid of them being targeted again and being forced to reveal anything they know about; Everyone in class seems to act weird, with some of them suddenly beginning to talk to Lila again and that’s eating away at me since I can’t figure out why; I can’t even go out and help with fighting the villain myself without the fear of what happened at the factory happening again; I’m so useless!” That last statement revealed something to the kwami he had almost forgotten about, something he thought he had lost after Marinette’s accident. He looked up at his mistress and he saw a scared, uncertain and stressed teenage girl. She looked practically the same way she did back then when she would stress aover the possibility of having to fight to keep him safe. Nooroo floated up to the girl’s head and began to play with her hair, something that he knew would calm her down from the many times he did when she had a panic attack. Only this wasn’t a panic attack, this was something different: his mistress needed advice.

“You’re not useless Marinette. You’re just stressed because everything is happening all at once. The thing is, you have a tendency to think and research about problems, questions, puzzles and anything you don’t understand nonstop until you figure out the solution or find the information you wanted. Now that so many things are happening you are basically switching from one problem to another whenever you feel like you’ve hit a dead end somewhere and it’s tiring you out. Maybe if you stopped and took a break once in a while you would be able to get a grip.”

“But what am I supposed to do if I’m not thinking? Thinking is practically the only thing I’ve been good at after the accident!” replied the young fashion designer, frustration clear in her voice. Nooroo smiled reassuringly before continuing to speak.

“Thinking is only one of the things that you’re good at Marinette! Having problems with walking hasn’t stopped you from being a good fashion designer, if anything your creativity and designs have become better! Same with your decoding of the tome, your language studies, your history studies and even your games! You don’t realize it, but after the accident you’ve been making leaps and bounds in everything you’ve done, doing everything better compared to when you **could** walk.”

“But that’s only because I’m working harder to overcome my inability to keep up a schedule!”

“Really? I thought the system you’ve implemented was a schedule.”

“I— I don’t have a system!” said Marinette, beginning to laugh.

“You wake up at around 6 o’clock every morning; you get out of bed, brush your teeth, shower and change into your outside clothes before you make your way downstairs to eat your breakfast. Once you’re done it’s about 6:50 and you leave for school. You arrive five minutes early, giving you time to take a short nap and then you go about the day at school normally until you go home. Once there, you do all of the homework you received that day in… about forty minutes before you play a game, read a book or work on the Miraculous Spellbook. That’s how an average day is for you. Is that not a schedule?”

“I— That’s— But I’m constantly behind on everything I do!”

“But you haven’t needed to hurry in a long time…” said her kwami puzzled. Marinette thought about what he said and realized that her cinnamon roll was right. She hadn’t actually hurried at all, at least not like she used to. Her work was always at an even, if a little frenetic, pace. The revelation that she was actually ahead made her laugh, genuinely laugh, as she felt the weight of her worries become so much lighter.

“I think the lack of sleep is making me a bit loopy…” she said.

“Maybe, but I can’t really help with that. You could set up a hammock up in the garden. You seem to sleep way better there. Anyway, back to your original question: instead of constantly thinking you could spend some more time with Alya, Nino and Adrien! Alya already knows you’re Lady Monarch so you could spend extra time with her since, you know, she’s your best friend? You still haven’t put her end of the deal with the blog to the test.” finished Nooroo, yawning. Marinette yawned too.

“Maybe you’re right. Alya’s sisters love The Louvre from what I remember…They’re such curious kids…”

Soon enough, the kwami and girl were sleeping peacefully, Nooroo nesting in his mistress’s hair.

* * *

Adrien was sitting in his room watching TV, unable to sleep, a myriad of thoughts swimming in his head. His kwami was eating some camembert and watching TV as well.

“Hey, Plagg? You mentioned a guardian of the miraculouses. Is Grand-cat the guardian?” asked the blond teen, voicing one of his questions. Plagg stopped eating his cheese.

“No! Grand-cat was just a user of my miraculous. I’m actually not sure what happened to the guardian. I remember that I helped my last buddy and then I was put back in the box. After that I was here in this time and place.”

“So it’s possible that the guardian is no more. That would explain why the fox miraculous is being used by some evil guardian. Or maybe some of the miraculous got in the hands of nefarious people and their coordinating someone to use it for evil… Or maybe—“ Adrien’s words slowly became a jumble as he muttered to himself, his mind going over the possibilities, making Plagg look at him with wide eyes _This kid is really smart! No wander Gabriel thought he would be a good fit. Though I should probably stop him.._

“Hey kid! Can you slow down a bit, you’re starting to say the same things on loop!” Adrien stopped muttering and whispered a small ‘sorry’, his face red from embarrassment. The red didn’t go away however, as Plagg’s next question reminded her of his crush.

“Adrien? I wanted to know, have you seen that weird notebook your princess had on her shelf?”

“The one with square lettering on it? Yeah! Marinette takes it with her everywhere she goes. I once saw her pulling it out in history class.”

“Yeah that one! I remember seeing the language somewhere before, but I’m not sure…”

“Do you want me to ask her?”

“I thought you always made knots with your tongue before talking to Marinette, you know, for good luck!” joked the cat kwami.

“Hardy-har-har!” replied a now grumpy Adrien, before he turned the TV to get at least some sleep.

* * *

Alix was sitting in her bed room, sleep not coming to her. She sat up on her bed and called for somebody in a hushed voice.

“Fluff! Can you sleep?” she asked, a small bunny flying out of seemingly nowhere.

“I never sleep in the afternoon. Or was that morning?” the floating bunny’s comment made Alix chuckle. Fluff was very weird when it came to time, but considering she had the power to travel through it she had no doubt that the progression of it would confuse her.

“Did you want to talk about something?” asked the bunny kwami.

“I was thinking about what happened today, the fact that I was chosen as a champion and… went through that weird experience!”

“I know what you mean. The afternoon of your day became morning… Did that make sense?”

“For a normal person, maybe not, but for me it totally did! And I know that what happened was caused by a paradox, but I still feel like it was weird since, you know, it’s a bit coincidental for me to have something that can grant me time travel powers and also be turned into a time traveler as a champion.” she took out her pocket watch from her pajamas pocket, given to her as a Christmas gift from Marinette, something she received before the young fashion designer became a bit scary. Fluff looked at the watch and then at her ward: she looked very… conflicted. She thought for a bit, letting her mind wander all over the space-time continuum, and an idea came. _I know exactly how to cheer her up!_

“Chat Noir and your friend will need your help! I will tell you when but until then know that Bunnix is not needed.” Alix turned to her, a confused expression on her face.

“Who’s Bunnix?”

“…Oh no! I did it again! Forget I said anything!” Alix laughed good naturedly at her unbelievably cute kwami, now even more cute-looking with her ears held over her face.

“I think you need to eat a bit. It’ll keep you from telling anything else about the future.”

“Yay! Breakfast time!”

“Keep the volume down. And yes, this is technically breakfast time.”

Alix got out of bed, out of her room and went to the kitchen to grab a snack for her and Fluff. There she was met with somebody else looking inside the fridge, his hand covered by a bandage.

“Oh! Hey Dad! Did you fall over yourself in the dark again?” Alix’s father turned around and saw her leaning on the doorway.

“I suppose… Oh who am I kidding! Yes I did! I woke up and I don’t seem able to fall back asleep. Good thing tomorrow is Sunday, right?”

“Oh yeah! I can’t really sleep either.”

“Do you want some milk?”

“Thanks dad, but I don’t feel like drinking milk. I actually wanted to eat some baby carrots and tomatoes. Do we still have any of those?”

“I… think we still do! Yes!” he said before giving his daughter the vegetables. “They’re coincidentally good for your sleep too, did you know that?”

“I did dad, thanks!” Alix hugged her father and wished him a good night before going back to her room.

“Here you go Fluff!” The kwami took the carrot that was given to her and started nibbling. Alix ate her tomatoes slowly, thinking about how she used to barely eat them at all until Fluff appeared into her life. After they passed the bunny miraculous wielder got in a more comfortable position, her mission: to get up at a reasonable time in the morning.

* * *

Gabriel was sitting in his office in his usual attire, not bothering to go in his bedroom and change into his pajamas. _I’m not tired anyway._ he thought to himself as he looked at the pin in his bandaged hand.

_Plagg said that this could be a miraculous. When Em first found it she was fine, but then she got more and more sick. Could it be because of this thing… No, it couldn’t be… If a miraculous makes people sick Plagg would have told me… I should have asked him more before giving the ring to Adrien!_ Gabriel continued to look at the jewel, taking in every detail for umpteenth time: from the nine tails to the small body of a peacock in the middle, everything looked normal. Completely and utterly normal.

Gabriel decided to put it on.

Author’s notes :

  * I made this in order to give the kwami’s some spotlight.
  * Another reason I made this is because I wanted to give the evil guardian some more time to shine.
  * I like Fluff! I like her a lot! She looks cute and her weird talk of time is absolutely awesome! I hope I didn’t make her too OOC, I haven’t rewatched ‘Timetagger’ in a long time.




	20. Chapter XX : Clothes and apprentices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finally has the time for her first lesson with Agreste, however she doesn't expect a nonscheduled visit to her house from Volpina. what is the vixen villain looking for this time? Find out in this chapter bellow!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings everyone and welcome to a new, exciting (I hope!), addition to "Miraculous: Tales of Lady Monarch and Chat Noir. before we begin I will like to thank every one of you for your support whether it was form commenting or kudos. It makes me very happy to know that this fic I'm making is still captivating your interest, especially since this is my first!
> 
> Well, enough with the thanks for now! Onwards to the chapter.

Marinette was being driven to the Agreste mansion for her first fashion lesson from Mister Agreste. Saying that she was excited was an understatement, as Marinette was practically bouncing in her seat, anticipation eating at her. Mister Agreste tried to invite her for her lesson but something always came up, be it either on his side or hers. (She had to make up reasons for not coming when she had to be Lady Monarch a few times in fact.) But now this was finally happening, nothing could stand in the way of this lesson.

The young fashion designer got out of the car when they arrived and let herself be guided by Miss Sancoeur to the fashion studio/office where Mister Agreste spent most of his time. When they arrived Mister Agreste turned away from the clothes and materials he had arranged in racks all over the studio. He dismissed Miss Sancoeur in a subtle way and then turned to Marinette.

“I suppose you have been quite eager to begin with the lessons.” stated Mister Agreste, noticing how energetic the teen was. Marinette settled down before replying.

“Yes. When I saw Adrien come to school with my design I knew the lessons weren’t too far behind!”

“Your intuition was very correct. Now onto the matter at hand: considering your advanced knowledge of fashion coupled with the experienced craftsmanship I had observed firsthand from the clothes you made for my sun, I realized that teaching you from the ground up will most likely waste our time in addition to boring you and—“

“It will definitely bore me!” she said as she moved around the room, her eyes scanning over the clothes and materials and realizing Mister Agreste had a preference for colorful clothes, geometric patterns, chain stitching and...

“That looks like the portrait…” muttered Marinette as she eyed a specific yellow dress. She suddenly felt a hand rest on her shoulder. 

“—And so in these lessons I will target exactly the things you lack experience with in comparison to everything else: pattern formation, accessory design and fashion history.” Marinette looked at the man before looking ahead of her, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Huh, I love history and yet I haven’t really looked at fashion history. How did you know about the last one? Also I’m sorry if I was a bit insensitive with the comment about this dress.” she responded, pointing with her cane at the yellow dress..

“I accept your apology Dupain-Cheng. Now where do you wish to start.”

“Accessory design!” said Marinette with a confident voice. Gabriel smirked. _Starting with the thing you’ve got the least amount of practice in? Surprising!_ he thought to himself as he motioned for her to follow him the short distance to his desk.

A bunch of photo’s were scattered on it. He explained that each photo was of an accessory type she hadn’t worked with before (hat photos were nonexistent for obvious reasons) and that she had to choose one and try to make it under his supervision, him giving tips and helping. Once that was done she would make notes of the result and his tips ( _Does he know I have an almost perfect memory? Maybe Adrien told him. I’d have to ask_.). She got to work, choosing to make suspenders since she always was curious about those. Agreste immediately begun with some basic tips on how to properly gauge the length of material needed as well as how to make it adjustable and fitting on an actual person.

* * *

Volpina was out and about, jumping from roof to roof and going in a certain direction: Marinette’s home. She had followed her home one time and made a note of where it was ever since she met her ma- Chai. The reason for this was because she wanted to get her hands on that tome she had. Volpina knew that Chai had told her to wait, but she simply couldn’t. Stealing a museum exhibit would be difficult and would attract attention, sure, but taking a book from a teenage girl's home should be a piece of cake, not to mention how much praise she would get if she could give her master Chai something as valuable as a tome about the miraculouses... At least that was what she thinking as she arrived at the bakery. She entered Marinette’s room after expertly opening the locked window and started searching. _Not under the bed... Not under the mattress... Not inside her vanity!... Not hidden in her bookshelf!... … Not in this box either!? Where the hell does she keep her damn tome?!_ Volpina decide to forget about the bedroom and decide to go up inside the glass cylinder thing that looked like a lighthouse tip from the outside. She made an illusionary key to open the trapdoor and entered. _A garden with butterflies, eh? No wonder the things like her so much._ Volpina started searching the indoor garden, observing the various tables and stopping to stare at one in particular, where a blue suit and some weird mask helmet thing sat on it, no dust on them despite the table having some. Volpina continued her search, noticing that the butterflies were becoming more erratic in their flight. She stopped at a desk with drawers and smirked, beginning to open them. The drawers were filled with folders, pieces of paper and a notebook, all blank, except for the folders, which held photos of the pages of that tome. _What the hell?! Why does she keep these if she doesn’t use them? At least these look like the symbols from that weird book. It has to be somewhere around here!_ Volpina retraced her steps, now looking for extra secret hiding places. Her perseverance paid off, as she found a part of the floor that sounded empty. _Bingo!_

Volpina crouched and noticed how there was a square outline where the floor was empty, barely noticeable but there. She put her hand on it and felt around for something that would open it. She found it, but it was a hidden keypad. _Nope!_ _Not_ doing _that!_ She grabbed her clarinet from her sash and used the pointy blade it had to brute force the door. After a minute or so it opened and Volpina grabbed the tome inside, slowly making her way back, none the wiser to the security measures she had tripped.

* * *

Marinette was nearly done with her creation, leaving plenty of time to work on the other things she needed to learn. She dropped the needle she was holding, her blood running cold: her phone alarm went off.

“Dupain-Cheng?” asked Agreste, noticing the look of utter fear on his apprentice’s face. Marinette muttered a quick ‘It was stolen!’ as she excited the office and bumped into Adrien on the way to the mansion’s exit.

“Marinette are you—“

“Not now! Big emergency!” she said as she phoned her parents. Adrien looked at his father, who also left the office/studio and was now next to him, with a questioning look. He shrugged and shook his head no.

“The only thing she said was ‘It was stolen!’.”

“What do you mean you didn’t let anybody in! How else could it have been stolen!” said Marinette loudly.

“What we’re saying is that none of your friends came by and none of our friends came here either. Nobody entered the house and subsequently nobody stepped inside your bedroom or your garden! Please calm down dear we’ll figure this out!” said Sabine from the other side of the phone call.

“How can I be calm! That tome was a precious family heirloom! I promised that I would look after it!”

The two Agrestes were staring at Marinette as she walked in circles, neither of them knowing what to do.

“We know Marinette! We don’t blame you for it, but—“ Marinette closed the call as she made it out of the mansion and began walking aimlessly. That was until, above her, she saw Volpina and realized that she could be the only person who could have stolen the tome. Marinette then looked for a place to hide and transformed.

“If Volpina thinks I will allow her to steal my precious tome then she is sorely mistaken!” she said as she made Fay. This one looked a little different, shining silver instead of yellow. She transformed back, Nooroo noticing the butterfly in her hands. 

“M-Marinette? I know you’re upset but—“ Nooroo was cut off by Marinette removing the brooch. She fished out a small white box from her pocket and placed the brooch inside it. Then she held her cane for the Fay to inhabit. A silver light covered Marinette’s entire form before leaving a different person behind.

* * *

Volpina was gingerly making her way towards a random very high place where she could leave the tome and get it later when she was backhanded into a nearby roof, dropping the Tome. Volpina got up from her lyaing position and saw a comically large hand connected to a long tube-like arm. She followed the length of the arm to its destination and she saw a lanky figure putting the tome inside herself and then closing the buttons. She recognized the lanky figure immediately, as she began to growl. _Marinette!_ Her most hated enemy was dressed in a dark magenta turtleneck t-shirt with puffy shoulders and two large black buttons, a pair of black suspenders holding up puffy pants colored the same as the t-shirt. On her legs she wore black stockings, on her feet, pink pointy boots, on her arms she wore black elbow length gloves and finally she wore a black puffy chocker. Her hair and skin were the bigger attraction however : her skin was ghostly white and her pink hair was styled in the form of spiky horns. Marinette looked up at her, her glassy eyes and red irises betraying confidence, a very mischievous smile on her face.

“Oh for the love of— She chose YOU?!”

“I’m Seamstress. Nice to finally meet you foxy!” She proclaimed as she pulled on her suspenders. The next thing she did was jump up into the air, enlarge her fist and loop her arm like a spring then delivering the punch. Volpina narrowly dodged the attack, noticing that the place she stood previously wasn’t even scratched from the hit. Seamstress continued her assault, punching and kicking Volpina in a flurry of movement. Volpina managed to close in however, sidestepping a punch and launching the blade of her clarinet through her attacker with an exclamation of victory. Seamstress looked down at where the spear hit: the blade didn’t even go through. Volpina looked up at Seamstress with a wobbly, scared smile, then jumped back from her, narrowly dodging being caught by a pair of large hands. Volpina quickly left the rooftop and ran away, the champion on her tail.

Their little game of cat and mouse caused some ruckus around Paris, attracting the attention of the residents, and as a result, Chat’s. Chat, who was looking for a certain blue haired girl, was alerted of the presence of Volpina and a champion he didn’t recognize (The photo that was posted to the hero app was very blurry.) He managed to catch up to them after a while of wild searching and found them fighting at the base of the Eiffel tower. He was a little transfixed by this new champion. Her elastic body moved in an oddly musical rhythm, dodging, jumping and counter attacking, Volpina finding no time to, and seemingly not carrying about, using her powers. One short exchange between the two was actually very awesome: Volpina thrusted her clarinet forward, the champion slipped to the right; The vixen villain followed up with a slash to the right, causing the champion to slip under her guard, her hand holding onto what looked like a scythe before she quickly pulled it from her back, simultaneously slashing at the fox; Volpina began to dodge backwards, the champion’s arm simply extending until she suddenly pulled it back and let her other arm (which she secretly coiled into a spring) launch forward, sending Volpina in the air. At that moment Chat remembered why he was there and intervened, launching into the air with his extendable staff and kicking Volpina back towards the champion, who caught her in her large hands.

“Got her! Got her!” said the champion happily as she began to shake Volpina.

“Wow there, nice to see you happy, but can you maybe not shake her too much! We don’t really want her to vomit.” Chat’s comment took the sails out of the champions enthusiasm.

“Nonsense! She stole my precious possession! Getting a little dizzy from me shaking her is nothing… I’m Seamstress by the way!” replied the champion.

“Seamstress?” asked Chat.

“Mhm! I’m my lady’s own wonderful doll! I’m completely indestructible and I feel no pain, all in exchange for capturing Volpina.”

The two continued to talk at the base of The Eiffel tower, Chat not noticing that Seamstress lacked a timer. The Parisians there were happily watching, seeing as the situation was completely under control, some even filming the whole thing, like Alya. Due to this Volpina had found it very hard to escape. The moment she heard Marinette utter the word ‘indestructible’ she knew struggling was useless. In fact it was very tiring, the soft and puffy material that made up the hands making her body beg for rest. _No! I can’t fall asleep. Master will kill me if I get captured! Need to… find a way to… escape…_ She yawned, making sure to not attract attention to herself. There was the one way she could escape and that was her ‘plain view camouflage’. _That doesn’t seem like a good name anymore. I kind of become intangible to people when they don’t pay attention… **Ghosting** sounds better!~_ As she thought that she felt herself go intangible, happiness bubbling inside of her as she realized the entire crowd and the heroes forgot about her for a split second. Volpina got up and watched amusedly the shocked expression on Marinette’s face as she looked at her hands and then at her surroundings, Chat being in similar state of shock. Volpina could attempt to take the ring from him, but doing so would attract attention and she knew for certain that, as tired as she was now, she had no way of escaping her enemy. This was why she decide to leave them and go home.

* * *

“Seriously!? How does she keep disappearing on us…?” Chat asked himself. The two of them were on the top of The Eiffel Tower and looking at the horizon. He suddenly felt arms coming around him and turned to see Seamstress hugging him in restraining manner from the side as she stared up at him, a suspicious look on her face.

“Who are you behind the mask?” she asked.

“Sorry, can’t really spoil that surprise!” he replied.

“Then can my lady trust you?”

“What?”

“My lady knows nothing about you. Your miraculous was not given to you by the guardian, so how can she really trust you won’t turn on her?” she asked, her expression showing patience.

“…Is that really something she’s scared of? Look, I have no reason to help Volpina if that’s what Lady Monarch is concerned of. Plagg said I’m supposed to be a hero… Wait, why does your voice sound familiar?” his question brought back Seamstress’s mischievous smile, the champion pulling back.

“Does this remind you of anything?” she replied, pulling her shinny black scythe and holding it by the blade as if it were a cane.

“M-Marinette…” she nodded, her ‘horns’ bobbing.

“I think I should get back to what I was doing. I have a pair of suspenders to finish.” she said, pointedly pulling on her suspenders.

Chat couldn’t trust himself to speak, so he nodded dumbly. He followed Marinette with his eyes until he could no longer see her.

* * *

Seamstress’s first stop was at her house. She gave the book to her parents, had a hug session and then left for her second destination. She reached the Agreste Mansion in record time transforming back into Marinette and busting into Mister Agreste’s office, making him jump.

“I’m sorry.” were the words she spoke, looking down at the ground. There weren’t any other words to be spoken, so she didn’t say more.

Mister Agreste eyed her and then looked at his office, all the objects that were used for the lesson not being touched in the slightest.

“You still have twenty minutes!” Marinette looked up and saw Agreste motioning to the suspenders that were on a foldable table. Her eyes shined with gratitude and she quickly made her way to the table where all the tools were placed. Adrien entered the office, his timing a bit too convenient for Gabriel’s taste. He pretended not to notice Adrien looking longingly at the girl as she put the last touches she could with the suspenders.

_I will tell her once everything is over._ thought the boy.

Author’s notes :

  * And here ends this chapter. I hope I surprised you all with the direction I took.
  * Don’t worry about Gabriel’s Collector being replaced. He will have his chance to shine in the future as well.
  * I’ve noticed that Chat doesn’t get much time in the spotlight, or at least not enough for my tastes. Don’t worry though, because the next chapters will be all about him.




	21. Chapter XXI : Statues and cats (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter that's more Chat-centric. The next one will be a little more focused on Chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We hit the hundred kudos! That's something I never thought would happen as fast as it did, but here we are. Thank you so much for your support and interest in this fic. I hope that things will continue this way and that what I'm writing will continue to be as, if not more, awesome!

Marinette Was sitting in her garden, working on the tome and talking to Nooroo. The little cinnamon roll was a bit shaken up by the events that transpired a few days ago.

“And you were able to change? You really changed?” asked Nooroo for what was like the thirteenth time.

“Yes Nooroo! I also know that what I did was very bad. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry!” responded Marinette, guilt audible in her voice.

“No, don’t be! You just full-proofed your secret identity. As far as everyone knows Lady Monarch can’t use her power on herself.” This comment made Marinette stop in her tracks, looking at nothing in particular with a thoughtful expression.

“I just thought… you said that the butterfly miraculous wielder is immune to its effects… so isn’t it logical that I can be a champion for my lady if I’m not using the miraculous.”

“In retrospect, it really makes sense, but nobody thought about that until you!”

“Oh! I guess now that we have discovered this I can do it more than once, right? I really like not needing a cane to walk and not feeling any pain. Besides, if I showed up only once then it would be suspicious.” she said with a mischievous smile on her face. Nooroo looked at her with apprehension, making her drop the smile.

“Oh come on! Don’t tell me it’s a bad idea to keep being a champion.”

“I-I never said you shouldn’t. It’s just that… one of the reason’s butterflies **give** powers is because a champion needs restraint and guidance so they wouldn’t become evil… You had none of that. The only thing that kept you from going mad with power was your strong will!” Marinette looked at her kwami with sad but understanding eyes. _He’s right, I did act a bit brash. The only reason I didn’t cause property damage was because I had the brain to turn myself into a plush doll._ she thought to herself.

The conversation was prevented from continuing by the sound of an alarm. Marinette looked down at her watch and saw the time, her eyes becoming as big as plates as she hurried to put everything away.

“I’m going to be late!” she spoke hastily, making her kwami confused.

“Late for what, Marinette?”

“Today is the day Theo Barbot unveils the statue in honor of me and Chat! I promised to have a speech after he unveils it.” Marinette made to exit the garden, but then stopped, looking at the ceiling and then at the butterflies that were flapping about, trying to find comfort after she had disturbed them. Smile formed on her face.

“I’m making this needlessly complicated. Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” Nooroo smiled before entering the brooch, the magical energy being released and creating Lady Monarch’s suit, the butterfly hero twirling her cane as it turned into her miraculous tool. The butterflies stopped their flight around the garden and settled on the nearest surfaces, all looking at their mistress and waiting for a command.

“As fun as it would be to make my first public appearance, I think I’ll stick to the shadows for now. So! I need a volunteer for doing a remote speech.” The thing that followed was a frenetic frenzy, as all the butterflies began to fly circles around her, bobbing up and down as If they were saying ‘Pick me! Pick me!’. Lady Monarch held her left hand forward, a quick little fella landing on it. All the other butterflies seemed to deflate a little, but they accepted the victory and settled down. Lady monarch pressed her cane on the newly installed pressure plate and opened the ceiling blind, allowing the Fay that she made to exit. 

* * *

Chat Noir was sitting next to Theo and the mayor. He was amusedly looking at the former: he clearly had nerves despite being one of the best sculptors in Paris. Theo was murmuring to himself, unintelligible words entering Chat’s ears.

“Theo, chill buddy! Think **pawsitively** and everything will go just as you want it to!”

“I-I don’t know Chat Noir. This Volpina villain is known to just attack at random and she’s very violent from what I’ve heard… What if she comes and ruins my statue for you and Lady Monarch.”

“If she does come for this thing,” he pointed at the tarp covered statue behind them “me and milady will defeat her. Then you could make another statue when the mayor wants to thank us for ridding Paris of the pesky fox, right Mister Mayor?”

“What? Oh! Yes, yes! You would definitely be thanked once you catch Volpina.” he said with little enthusiasm. Chat understood why the mayor wasn’t his usual happy self: apparently Chloe hadn’t phoned him either. Chat started to think that his classmates were right. _Chloe told me that her mother left her when she was little. Why would she want to stay with her when she doesn’t show any signs of interest in her?_

His train of thought was cut off by the appearance of a white-yellow light which fluidly split into various lines, as the curved and split a few more times, covering the sky above everyone in yellow swirls.

* * *

When Alya heard that a statue would be made in honor of her lady’s and Chat’s work as heroes, she was very excited. The reason for this was obvious: nobody really knew how Lady Monarch looked like, so instead of her, the statue would feature all the unique champions that were currently working to secure the safety of Paris and its residents. Since she, along with Nino, Alix, Ivan, Aurore and Mister Ramier were all champions, they have been expressly called to attend. And so that’s how Alya caught the most beautiful light show she had ever seen.

“…You’re such a showoff, but I don’t care…” she murmured, getting Alix’s attention. The pink haired teen had to agree, Marinette tended to be a showoff from time to time, but that didn’t mean the things she did weren’t cool. Once the light show was over, the ghostly silhouette of Lady Monarch slowly glided down. Due to the statue unveiling being televised through all of France, now everyone had a very good idea of how the elusive and mysterious Lady Monarch looked like, with an acceptable margin of error created by the haziness of her white-yellow tinged form.

* * *

“Y-you’re here!” exclaimed Theo.

“Does being a ghost really count?! <Chuckle> Sorry for not coming in person, but a recent event has risen some concerns regarding the possible discovery of my undisclosed base.”

“Well it’s obvious you’re not physically here, but you’re still here!”

“Hello milady!” said Chat, a little uneasiness in his voice.

“Greetings partner! Let me guess: ‘It’s **pawesome** to meet you again!'?” Lady Monarch’s response made Chat’s uneasiness leave him, her discreet acknowledgement of trust being understood.

With everyone having settled down after the magical light show, the mayor stepped in and said the usual platitudes regarding Chat and Lady Monarch, things like how ‘They are the ray of hope in our wonderful city!’ and how ‘They will save this city from the nefarious Volpina!’, and other stuff like that, the man implicitly giving praise to the champions as well, something which kind of made them and the rest of the crowd a little angry.

“…and so, it is time for the sculptor himself to say a few words. Ladies and gentlemen: Theo Barbot!” Theo stood army strait before relaxing his posture at Lady Monarch’s recommendation and began to speak. He really wasn’t good at speeches, so he understandably kept it short. He was just about to fluidly introduce Lady Monarch as the next person to speak, but was interrupted by a blue blur that landed atop the covered statue.

* * *

Volpina and Chai watched as Lady Monarch made her entrance with that ridiculous light show. The only thing Chai could think about at the moment was how blind Nooroo was to follow a teenager’s whims. The kwami was dumb enough to give this ‘Lady’ Monarch the secrets to most, if not all, of the butterfly’s powers, which made her a fearsome opponent. The only solace he could find was in the fact that this impudent girl was young and had practically no experience in actually fighting a skilled strategist. Chai shifted his gaze to Volpina. The girl seemed very eager to just jump down there and start breaking stuff. The reason he had chosen her was because of that boundless energy he saw being wasted. Lila was very good at lying and manipulation, but for some reason she lacked the skill to do these things now. He felt a little sad that he would have to remove her miraculous, but Trixx deserved better…

“M-Master Chai? I know that being impatient is bad, but can I…?” she trailed off, afraid of not angering her master.

“… I won’t come in to save you if you mess up, but other than that, go down there and make an actually good show!” Chai responded tiredly. His body had gotten less sleep than usual, but he needed to push on. He would sleep more tonight if he could.

Volpina smiled at her silhouetted master, her tail wagging happily, before she jumped down and landed on the ‘statue’.

* * *

The moment Volpina arrived on the scene everyone except for the champions ran away, Chat quickly to intervening. He batted the vixen villain to the ground and then charged at her. She quickly got up and blocked every single hit he attempted with her clarinet. Lady Monarch’s ghostly form told the sculptor and the mayor to hide behind the statue before she turned into six butterflies, all flying towards the champions. They all entered everyone’s object of choice (Alya’s phone, a rock themed pin that Ivan happened to have on him, Alix’s goggles, Aurore’s new umbrella, Mister Ramier’s bowtie and Nino’s headphones) and transformed them into their super powered selves.

Chat and Volpina were still fighting each other, now at mid range, with the vixen villain making clones and Chat responding with large swipes of his extended staff. The cat hero momentarily stopped in his tracks when he saw the champions. Volpina stopped too when she heard a familiar voice.

“HEY!” shouted Ironheart, making everyone wince. The champion looked almost the same, only his size being smaller and his ‘armor’ now possessing a segmented tube that ran down his back, a tube which resembled a spine, some of the plating being more angular and creating impression of him having muscles and, finally, the same plating being segmented into parts, a darker grey metal being visible underneath.

“Dude, chill! You’re gonna break my mikes!” said Bubblemaster, his words accompanied by a dialogue bubble. The champion had gotten a paint job since last time, his body plating now being red, silver and white all over, with his visor being light blue.

“Meh! I’m fine with it!” replied Timebender. The champion’s suit was mostly unchanged, with the exception of two yellow hourglass symbols, one on the front and one on the back, both of them inside dark green circles.

“Perhaps we should turn our attention to—“ Climatika was cut off by Mr. Pigeon, who looked pretty much the same, with the exception of his purple bowtie.

“Yes! I have the chance to right my past mistake!” he said as he teleported a bunch of pigeons to the location.

“Everyone! Attack!”said Lady Wifi, getting everyone’s attention. The only thing Volpina could say was:

“For the love of—“

* * *

“—everything that’s holy!” said Chai. The villain was practically fuming when he saw all of the champions together at the same time. He had no idea that was a possibility. He knew it was possible to create multiple powerful beings at once (A previous user had employed this tactic with Legio IX Hispania, in order for the soldiers to not die before killing some cursed beast), but he never had seen the butterfly miraculous bringing multiple **different** champions into being. The good thing about the situation his apprentice was in was that the champions were terribly uncoordinated, hitting each other due to Volpina’s skillful dodging.

* * *

Chat was pretty stoked to see all the champions in one place, however, they almost hit him and now he couldn’t even attack Volpina, the only thing he could do was sitting near the statue and think of a way to turn the tides to their favor. An idea popping into his head, he looked around and noticed a nearby manhole. _I don’t think they’ll fight well enough to capture Volpina, but we could try to make her run away…_ The cat hero whistled loudly and began to give all the champions orders.

“Lady Wifi, Bubblemaster! Aerial strike!” Lady Wifi made two Speedup hovers and Bubble master made two bubble platforms for them as they flew up, settled in place, and began to fire away from the center where Volpina was.

“Climatika and Mr. Pigeon, surround her!” The two champions obeyed and used their wind and pigeon controlling powers respectively to create a sort of cage around Volpina and Ironheart.

“Ironheart, boxing is your friend!” Ironheart stopped flailing around and actually attacked Volpina with controlled punches, his head seemingly following Volpina no matter how much his body turned.

“Timebender, batter up with the five o’clock” The champion turned around and saw the manhole cover. She gave a thumbs up, made it to the man cover and removed it with her usual speed and then threw it slower (slower from her perspective). Chat twirled his staff before holding it like a baseball bat and hitting the manhole cover, sending it to collide with Ironheart. The collision was successful, causing the reverberation effect to occur, this time accompanied by him growing in size. Ironheart was now almost as big as he was the first time.

“Cease air strike and open cage!” ordered Chat. Volpina, who was disoriented by the loud reverberation, turned tail and ran, successfully avoiding Timebender with a jump and landing inside the manhole. There was no sound of her hitting the floor. All the champions suddenly lit up and then turned back into their civilian selves, all the Fays uniting and forming a single Fay again before it turned into a white butterfly and flew away. Chat’s plan had worked. Everyone was safe for the time being. The champions suddenly gasped and the cat hero turned around to see the statue that was behind him. Climatika’s winds had removed the tarp from the statue and so Chat could see that it wasn’t a statue made for him and Lady Monarch, but rather it showed Volpina at the center, the cat ring and butterfly brooch held in each hand like they were trophies…

Author’s notes :

  * Dun dun dun!
  * What happened to the statue?
  * You’ll have to find out on the next chapter of Miraculous Lady Monarch!
  * I really love giving more value to Chat. In this chapter I showed off his intelligence and strategic thinking in regards to how the champions could cooperate. It kind of makes sense actually, since he’s been working with these champions on and off screen, allowing him to have a good grasp on how to make each one useful. It’s true that some of them were underutilized, like Timebender, Mr. Pigeon and Climatika. The in universe reason is because the plan was thought up on the spot, but my reasoning as a writer was because they already had some spotlight recently and Ironheart had little to none since his debut, which was why there was a tiny bit more focus on him.
  * All the champions have gotten nice cosmetic upgrades. The reason I did this was because just like I am rewriting and perfecting some chapters, Lady Monarch is modifying and perfecting her champions.
  * Speaking of Lady Monarch, she usually coordinates the champion. I’ll explain in the next chapter why that isn’t the case here.
  * This story is a three-parter, and will focus on the stuff Chai mentioned recently, so watch out for that.




	22. Chapter XXII : A few more thefts (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Volpina decides that storming the Louvre would be a nice way to spend her day. Chat has to obviously step in and fix everything. Meanwhile, Gabriel decides to do a little favor for his son and Marinette accidentally (or not) puts a stop to that.

Following the events regarding the statue a lot of things have happened: 1. The statue was discovered to be an illusion, a very sturdy one, but an illusion nonetheless; 2. Volpina hadn’t shown herself (with the exception of some incidents); 3. Lady Monarch’s activity seemed to have decreased; 4. Chat had become almost omnipresent, the hero being seen patrolling during the day and at night.

Logic would dictate that the sudden increase in Chat’s activity would lead to a point where he would be unable to continue with his work for some time. The fact that this had not happened, activity paradoxically continuing a steady increase, with sightings of the hero in more than one place being reported at around the same time (or at least within an interval small enough that present models of performance would say the traversal of the distance between the two points would be impossible) were giving The Observer a major headache.

Agreste was in a similar situation. The man looked at his son and saw that he looked completely normal. There was no sign of fatigue. There definitely wasn’t any sign of more muscles on Adrien’s body. That was another thing that had changed. The teen’s escapades as the hero Chat Noir had led to him developing muscles. He wasn’t buff or anything, his muscles were just more pronounced. Pretty much everyone at school noticed it since Adrien liked to wear the sleeves of all his shirts rolled up.

Speaking of shirts, Marinette was currently making one with a pattern and was looking at how it fit and how the pattern presented on Adrien. Gabriel kept moving his eyes from his computer screen to the funny interaction between Dupain-cheng and his son. The funny thing was that Adrien was visibly awkward around Dupain-Cheng, but the latter seemed to either genuinely not notice or pretend not to.

“Agreste, I’m done!” said the young fashion designer. Gabriel got up from his chair and inspected her work, finding it satisfactory. Something that the elder fashion designer had prepared himself for was Dupain-Cheng’s talent, but he didn’t expect her to pick up on things so quickly as well. Usually, talented people had some troubles at some point, but this teen seemed to be the outlier. _I need to find the upper limit of this girl’s skills or else we’ll just waste time going in circles._ He thought to himself. Before Dupain-Cheng could leave for the day (or more accurately stick around for some time before leaving) he stopped her, remembering something.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng can you wait a moment?” the teen stopped and then told Adrien she’ll meet him in his room. He nodded and left.

“I’m guessing it is important **Mister** Agreste.” ignoring the tone, the man responded.

“Yes. My son wants to tell you something but he is a bit awkward about how to bring it up.”

“…I’m not going to ask if that’s what you’re hinting at. Asking will just exacerbate his awkwardness.” replied Marinette. An unreadable expression passed on Agreste’s face before he responded. 

“Right! I was not implying that. I actually wanted to inform you that Adrien’s bodyguard and Miss Sancoeur made a bet that he would either find the courage to tell you or not. I just thought you would like to know since this bet is as much about you as it is about him.” Agreste said before turning back to whatever he was doing on his computer. Marinette stood stock still, taking a pill, her eyes closed and head leaned back in thought.

“He will write it…” she said after a bit.

“Sorry?” asked Agreste, who was once again looking at her.

“Tell them I bet my fashion sketchbook that Adrien will **write down** whatever he wants to tell me.” said the girl before leaving the room.

* * *

Chat was currently roaming around Paris, stopping only to give autographs, take photos and solve minor problems around Paris: things like stopping a bus that got its breaks broken somehow, or saving some window cleaners that accidentally fell of their platform. His current objective however was to keep an eye out for Volpina. The fox villain had been mostly absent, but she was still sometimes sighted at night, the following day news about stolen objects popping up. The thefts had no rhyme or reason. She would steal things that ranged from clothes hanged out to dry, to benches, to parts from rides like the ones in the park. One thing was certain, the objects stolen had no use for her; they were just a means to an end. What was that end? He had no idea. The only thing he knew for certain was that she wanted the attention, always leaving a note saying ‘Volpina was here!’ in place of the stolen objects. Being the ‘Emperor of cheese’, also known as ‘His cheesiness’, he could say with absolute certainty that—

Chat suddenly got an alert on the hero app. The location of the alert was the Louvre. That was not good. The cat hero quickly ran there, feeling lucky that he was in the region. Arriving at the scene, he saw the local police force as well as a special task force positioned outside.

“Wow! Looks like Volpina leveled up to ‘ **V** illain that attracted the **I** re of the special **P** olice’!” said Chat from his spot on a nearby lamppost. One of the special officers came close to him and saluted. The simple logo of ‘R.A.I.D.’ was present on her arm.

“Chat Noir! It is an honor to be working with you sir!”

“Am I VIP too?” he asked as he got down. The officer looked at him uncertainly before looking back. She then leaned a little closer and whispered.

“You haven’t attracted our ire.”

“You got the joke!” he whispered back. She nodded before motioning for him to follow. The two made it inside the building and saw a bunch of R.A.I.D. members sitting around discussing how to proceed. Chat and the woman officer stopped in front of a group in the middle.

“Chat Noir! Head of R.A.I.D. team reporting for duty.” The officer saluted and Chat nodded.

“I’m guessing this is pretty serious if you guys are here.” The head of the team signaled the officer next to the cat hero to brief him and that she did.

“At around 5:07 PM the cameras inside The Louvre recoded Volpina and some of her clones storm the museum, taking hostage all the civilians inside. At 5:15 PM the camera system was shut down, but footage showing Lady Monarch’s champions was observed beforehand. All six of the champions are currently inside the building dispersed on all floors.”  
“I can tell you with absolute certainty they are copies too! Do you guys know where Volpina is exactly?”

“We assume she is on the second floor.” responded the head officer.

“Ok… I’m guessing you waited for me so we could join forces.”  
“Yes.”

“Alright then!... How ‘bout you guys set up your troops near the location of each fake champion and I sneak to the second floor. Once there we’ll coordinate our attack and attempt to get the situation under control.”

“Sir, with all due respect, Volpina has clones of herself ready to kill each and every hostage. She demands to have the butterfly and cat miraculous handed to her.”

“That’s even better! I’ll just walk up unimpeded and tell you when to attack! Pro tip: the reason Volpina moves back when she summons clones is because she needs to focus on controlling them. I’ll try to keep her occupied and the clones should be still, but you’ll have to act quickly!”

“Yes, that’s good and all, but how do you plan on contacting us?” asked the officer next to him.

“Do you guys want my number?” asked Chat as he pulled out his collapsed staff. The cat hero used his staff to connect to R.A.I.D.’s communication network (he had at one point in time found out that he did have a manual on his miraculous tool) and then he put on his ear a discreet hands free communicator. The cat hero slowly made his way towards the second floor where Volpina stood. Due to his presence Volpina immediately focused on him, not noticing the R.A.I.D. troops that settled in the assigned sectors 1-6.

“Where’s Lady Monarch?” asked Volpina, suspicious of his presence. Next to her were six copies of all champions. _That means twelve champion clones in total!_ noted Chat.

“…The lady is indisposed?” he asked more than said, shrugging.

“You realize I can kill everyone in the museum, right?”

“Sure you can, but then you’ll have no bargaining chip.” Volpina smile smugly, her half lidded eyes looking at him.

“I don’t have to kill everyone…” The cat hero froze, the R.A.I.D. officer that first saluted him telling him that all the clones seemed ‘pretty active to me’.

“Wait! I can get a line right to her!”

“Really? How?!” asked Volpina, now excited by the idea of getting Lady Monarch here.

“I can give you my staff! Sound good?”

“Yes! Give it to me now!” Chat discretely touched a button on his staff before throwing it towards Volpina. He counted in his head from ten as he watched it go. _3... 2… 1…_

“Now!” the staff extended in midair, securing itself in the middle of the room by ‘hanging’ off of the walls. The cat hero then jumped on it and launched himself towards Volpina. The vixen villain jumped back and sent her champion clones after Chat.

The cat hero ran towards Ironheart and then slid on his knees to avoid his left roundhouse, turning him to smoke with the help of his claws.

“Sector 2 clear!” came the announcement from his earpiece.

He then turned his attention to Lady Wifi. He jumped through the illusionary pause symbols, his claws hitting their mark, moving through the smoke and digging into the wall. He then wall jumped and nailed Bubblemaster before scratching Climatika into oblivion.

“Sector 1 clear! Sector 3 clear! Sector 5 clear!”

Timebender attempted to charge at him, but he made a wide base and held his hands forward, the clone running into his claws and immediately turning into smoke.

“Sector 6 clear!”

Chat quickly ran up to Mr. Pigeon, scratched him, turning him into smoke and then began to advance on Volpina. The vixen villain jumped back and Chat pounced, missing her as she rolled away. He attempted to kick her but she jumped back again, hitting her head on the cat hero’s staff. The staff then collapsed and spun into the heroes hand outstretched hand. He attempted to bat Volpina, but she once again dodged and jumped back. She had a smile on her face, her expression suddenly turning to one of horror.

“Sector 4 clear!”

Chat smiled smugly at her, twirling his staff as he slowly advanced. Volpina turned to smoke.

"Cheater!" said Chat to the empty room.

* * *

After everyone was accounted for the art, pieces were inspected. And it was discovered that the kidnapping was only a diversion for Volpina to steal a bunch of priceless art. Chat had left the museum following this revelation, going to the rendezvous point. The whole ordeal seemed so short for him, but the operation actually took about an hour to set up before going into action. The sun was setting, painting the sky in a delightful blend of orange yellow and red. He couldn’t believe that the vixen villain fooled him and a whole team of specialized law enforcement troops. _I guess the term super villain was invented for a reason…_

“Hey Copycat!” Copycat turned around to see Chat had arrived. In his hand he held his staff in phone mode. “Lady Monarch wanted to speak with us before I started the night shift.” He said while sitting down next to him.

“Hello My lady!”

“…Greetings Copycat. I wanted to say that the stunt Volpina pulled has not gone unnoticed. I—“

“I know my lady, we will not stop until we will find her!”

“Let me finish…OK?!” asked Lady Monarch, shouting a bit in frustration and what seemed like pain at the end. Copycat shut up, not wanting to offend his lady. “I said that Volpina’s stunt **had** not gone unnoticed. Mind the tense: it’s past perfect… Well, first time I said it, the tense was present perfect, but that is here nor there… Ugh… Anyway, this means that my words are literal and that there is evidence to what Volpina did, mainly in the form of an anonymous tip…”

“An anonymous tip? I thought only cops got those… Are you—“ Chat was cut off by Lady Monarch.

“No. I’m not a policewoman and neither do I have relatives in the police. The tip is an unsigned video that was sent to the hero app, straight to LW.”

“Spooky!” replied both Chat and the champion.

“Quite! However the videos, more specifically the locations in them, clued me in to the location where Volpina sent all the clones and, with them, the art pieces. It will take me some time to get a good idea where they are exactly, but I should be able to crack the mystery tonight or a day later… Have a good evening you two!”

“Good evening my lady!” bid Copycat

“Good evening m’lady!” bid Chat

* * *

Lady Monarch ended the phone call and turned back into Marinette. She continued to look at the locations she pinpointed on the map of Paris she pinned to her whiteboard.

“Marinette, maybe you should rest a bit. You won’t be able to figure out much with your headache still present.”

“…And whose fault is that? Mine. I did this to myself when I tried to connect all six champions at the same time… I should have known better… Ugh…” she massaged her forehead, trying to get the throbbing pain to at least calm down.

“You couldn’t have known better. You shouldn’t punish yourself for every mistake you make. Come on, get some sleep… The word won’t end if you go to bed early tonight!” said Nooroo. His argument seemed to have worked, as Marinette got up from her chair and began to leave. She then stopped, realization flashing on her face.

“...’punish’… PUNISH!” She shouted in realization as she turned around and picked up her red marker, connecting all points where a clone of Volpina was observed on video with the location of the museum. All clones were relatively far from the museum, indicating that they took the long way round. She then connected all the points where the clones were seen. “Found it!”

“What did you find? How?!” asked Nooroo, not believing what he was seeing.

“The location where Volpina took all the art pieces aka the evil guardian’s lair! When you said punish you helped me put the problem into a better prospective. ‘punish’ is what the guardian probably did to Volpina after some of her failures and that lead me to think more about the guardian and his motives rather than what Volpina herself wanted and voila! He wanted her to steal all this stuff and the only place where they could hide it is at their base. They really didn’t think this much ahead to be honest. Having so many clones of Volpina go towards the same place at around the same time really attracts attention!”

Author’s notes:

  * Some more insight into Chat and Adrien for you all!
  * This chapter also introduced a lot of ideas that will be continued in the future, so keep this chapter in mind when you read the future ones.
  * Whenever I watched the TV show I felt like Paris was severely underprepared to combat akumas, so I looked to see if France has any form of SWAT team, and apparently they do, their version being R.A.I.D. The reason they only appeared now was because the situation was mostly under the control of Chat, but with the events of ‘No sleep for the weary’ two-parter and the fact that Volpina held a lot of people hostages, they decided to assist.




	23. Chapter XXIII : A leg up on the villains? (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final part! A bit on the short side and not as Chat related as the other two, but I was aiming for something more... unique.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings everyone!
> 
> First off, I want to thank you for your continued support, you all really help me keep going by showing your interest in my fic!
> 
> Now, there are some bad news. There are currently some really bad technical difficulties behind the scenes. Like, exceptionally bad. Now that does not mean I will stop updating. I refuse to go into hiatus and will try my hardest to keep the schedule afloat. However, I am announcing this in case I happen to miss an update. Once again I will try really hard to do this and am only saying this so you all are in the know.
> 
> TL;DR Due to technical problems I MIGHT miss days when I update, but the story IS NOT going on hiatus.

Sabine and Tom were so happy to have a girl such as Marinette. Their girl possessed a balance between kindness, intelligence, responsibility and even humor. She had been like this for a very long time and they were so proud. This was why the accident had left such an impact on them. At first Marinette seemed normal, if a little sadder than she usually was. Following that, however, she had changed drastically: she became pessimistic, cold, she didn’t want to be hugged or be around people anymore, often keeping herself up in her room, burying herself after a mountain of books, only coming down when she needed to eat, even then though, she would often take her lunch/dinner and bring it back up to her room. The girl’s kindness was not gone however, that they were sure off. After the accident she had changed so much, her intelligence and responsibility increasing while her humor became dry and somewhat rude. Similarly with her humor, her kindness had changed as well, changing from that fiery determination to help into a tempered (at times cold) tuff love attitude.

At school the girl did amazing, coming back with so many better scores and even managing to keep her schedule iron tight, only sometimes arriving late due to her newfound walking difficulty. What also came, and this was alarming, was that their girl had become ‘antisocial’ and ‘aggressive’. This led to an unsuccessful attempt at a discussion with Marinette, the reason for the failure being the fact that she wanted ‘To hear the principal herself.’ With her there to explain everything (as well as scare the soul out of the principal) it was discovered that accusations were completely unfounded: Marinette was keeping to herself sure, but she didn’t actively avoid people, in fact there was this one girl called Alya that would often follow her everywhere ‘in a desperate attempt to cheer’ Marinette up.

That year of their lives was long gone hopefully. Marinette had recovered some of her usual enthusiasm and had warmed up to them again, thanks in part to the new ‘taking turns to cook’ rule, as well as her extremely increased fascination with other languages compared to the past. Her social life had also increased: The ‘Cesaire girl’ who was ‘following’ Marinette ‘for some reason’ had turned into ‘Alya’, her ‘friend’ and the person she often ‘hanged out’ with. Marinette’s group of friends had expanded to include Nino, one of her most constant classmates, and recently there appeared the Adrien boy. The kid was kind, if a little ‘naïve and childish’ as Marinette often called him. The thing was, she had said the word differently, like they were virtues instead of defects, like they were funny or nostalgic. This was a big deviation in her usual behavior and they sometimes wished they had her analytical skills so they could find out what she was thinking. Even now, as she and Alya greeted them and continued on their way they were thinking: _Why must you be such a mystery Marinette._

* * *

After school was done for the day Marinette had invited Alya to hang out until later that evening, before coming over so they could study together (well, it was more like Alya studied and Marinette cleared up all the misunderstandings). The two arrived at the young fashion designer’s home, greeted the former’s parents and walked up to her room.

“You know, for a person who needs a cane you walk up a lot of stairs and ladders.”

“Marinette is very persistent!” replied Nooroo, who had flown out of the girl’s fanny pack and landed in Alya’s hair.

“Were not done climbing yet. Also please don’t mess Alya’s hair too.” said Marinette before popping a pill.

“He’s the reason you hair—Wait! This is your room, we don’t…” Alya and Nooroo gasped, realization showing on their faces, before being by excitement, the former being curious about what was up there, while the latter was happy that his owner opened up enough to allow someone there. After climbing up Marinette sat down on her reading chair in front of the map. Alya’s eyes were as big as saucers! The girl had gotten a few glimpses into this mysterious place when Marinette video chatted that one time. The little sneak peak couldn’t have prepared her for this: The Garden was bright, filled with flowers, cacti, berry bushes, and even hanging plants, all potted and creating a beautiful combination of green, purple, blue, red, orange, yellow and white. The potted plants were placed on the floor, on tables, and some even hanged on the ceiling, and all of them having one bright white butterfly or another sitting on them, mingling with a few locals. Speaking of butterflies, they were flying around excitedly, and many coming to get a closer look at Alya, if not outright land on her. Their flight made the girl look up and then she saw The Garden’s magnum opus: the open ceiling had a beautiful, high quality wooden carving in the shape of a circular window with a butterfly, along the edge of it being carved a bunch of symbols that Alya couldn’t understand. The teen was snapped out of her revelry by the sound of a literal snap.

“You want to see this.” Alya walked next to the chair and looked at the map, which had a bunch of lines connecting dot with two ‘centers’ if they could be called that. One quick look revealed that some of the dots were connected to the location of the Louvre museum. _That means…_

“Did you just…?”

“Yep!”

“But the other people couldn’t…”

“Yes, they couldn’t!”

“When…?”

“Last night. I was thinking of sending Chat there tonight.”

“…But I thought you wanted to help me study…”

“I’m a multitasker. Besides, I kind of wanna mess with him, keep him off the trail!”

“Are you serious?”

“… I thought these ‘pranks’ you kids keep talking about are supposed to be jokes.”

“Oh, you know what I mean!”

“Yes I am serious.”

* * *

Chat was currently going towards the location Lady Monarch had directed him. Apparently it was the actual location where they were supposed to look. He had been told to wait for Copycat and R.A.I.D. to arrive (how Lady Monarch and Copycat would convince them to help them was beyond him. From what he’d heard, the special team only cooperated when they were given a plan, and even then they were somewhat hesitant.)

Once he had arrived he picked a good spot and waited. And waited… And waited some more… _She really should have chosen a different night to do this. Doubling as a tutor and hero is probably not ideal with how much transforming—_

Chat watched as Copycat, no, **Copycats** , were coming from many different directions. They all stopped in various semi-hidden places. Suddenly, his staff buzzed and he picked up, hearing Lady Monarch’s cocky voice.

“Your personal cat army! Am I good, or am I **good**?”

“Oh, you’re great! I can now have a true cat fight!”

“…Would that— Never mind! The extra Copycats are all members of the R.A.I.D. team, changed to fit the template of my current champion. Now go and sneakily storm the building! I really want to see the expression on the guardian’s face when he sees this.” she ended the call and left it to him. _I’m gonna prove I’m the most trustworthy cat Lady monarch!_ he thought to himself, turning towards all the Copycats, finding none there. Realizing he was wasting time, he went inside the building. With every single Chat lookalike now inside, they went in every room, finding one art piece or another and immediately escorting it back to the museum. In about half an hour, all the art pieces that belonged to the museum were found and relocated back to their origin. With that out of the way there was only one thing left to do: find the statue, find Volpina and/or her master and capture them. In that aspect, there was one room where no one entered. That room had only one exit and its windows were blocked off, a dim light coming from them. Chat, being the courageous cat that he was, entered first. He was very disappointed to find a white-brown orb of light in the room, standing near the statue and a table. He walked towards the table and saw there was a folded up piece of paper. He picked it up, unfolded it and read the message wrote in cursive.

“Thank you for saving the artifacts Chat Noir, but your prize is in another building!” Chat’s blood ran cold and he slowly, afraid of what was behind him, turned around. In front of him, instead of a glowing orb, stood a man. He was disproportionately tall and thin, with brown drags resembling a suit. His skin was charred, completely black, his large hands with long fingers holding the sides of the table as he hunched down. His head being held up by a dangerously thin neck. He didn’t have ears or a nose, his mouth stretched into an impossibly large smile, with razor sharp crooked teeth that were melded to the flesh. His eyes were completely missing, two huge, sharp, diagonal eyes.

“GUYS!” The door burst open and all Copycats entered. The figure looked up and hi smile immediately turned upside down as he drew up to his full height.

“Cheater.” he simply said in his wheezing voice before exploding into smoke. All Copycats stood down and looked at one another before looking to Chat.

“… G-get the statue out…” said the cat hero, frozen in place.

Author’s notes:

  * And here we see Lady Monarch using the power to control ‘multiple’ champions correctly. No more migraines.
  * With the end of this chapter comes the question, ‘Did the heroes win or what?’ I choose what. What do you guys choose?




	24. Chapter XXIV : Lies, liars and consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many consequences! Similarly to the 'Evil never sleeps' mini-arc this chapter will leave ripples that will change the original course of events. For good or bad, read an find out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Inserts hallelujah song*
> 
> The technical problems are completely fixed! So, there won't be any risk of a chapter being missed at all!

It was a rainy day out as Marinette made it to school, walking with the umbrella. It was a good thing she had a raincoat lying around, or else she would have gotten to school completely soaked. Once she arrived, Marinette went straight to her classroom, ignoring the whispers about her using an umbrella as cane, especially the ones that contained the words ‘Miss Penguin’. Marinette entered her classroom, not bothering to greet Adrien or Nino. She glanced at the class and stopped in place. Everyone was seating in different places, most notably, her champions seemed to be seating on the right side of the room, closer to the door, while the rest seemed to be seating.

“…Marinette?” The young fashion designer looked to her left and saw Alya. She side eyed her before looking at the entire class again.

“Care to explain, or are you all going to stay silent?” The next moment everyone exploded in noise and rage. The two sides were specifically bickering with one another and Marinette could only make up it was about her. She looked to Alya and raised her eyebrow in silent question.

“Part of the class think you’re unfit to be class representative and—“

“Reason?”

“There is none! The only thing that they say is that we need someone ‘who’s better at representing us’! I mean, you may be grumpy, but I’m pretty sure you can represent us fine, right?”

“I’ve done a good job this far…” Marinette looked at the left side of the class, noticing how they looked… possessed, for a lack of a better term. The one person that was not bickering was Lila, the girl resting her head on her hand as she was turned to look at the other side of the class, but, really, she was looking at Marinette, a smile on her face. Having enough of this circus the young fashion designer whistled loudly, stopping the bickering.

“What exactly are your complaints?”

“You barely talk to anybody! How are you supposed to be a class representative if you don’t talk with us?” asked the ever hotheaded Kim.

“Being a class representative means I have to know if anybody has problems. Isn’t it better if I solve them without even having to ask what those are?”

“Yeah, but knowing what our problems are without asking means you find out in other ways.” said Sabrina.

“Which is scary!” added Mylene.

“…Any other complaints?” asked Marinette. Max began to speak.

“Your lack of sleep—“

“Has nothing to do with this, full stop! What is this actually about, really?” asked Marinette, who was now nearing the end of her patience. Lila got up from her seat and began to walk down, holding herself in such a way that her hands, which were held behind her, were not visible.

“’What is this about?’ Simple! Max and the others have observed that you’ve changed Mari!~ In fact, many of us believe that you placed yourself on a bit of a high horse! This is why we want to replace you and your friend.” said Lila, with, what Marinette had dubbed, her ‘sour honey’ voice.

“Nice…! Your argument has the qualities of being subjective, being impossible to prove and being originally thought up by you in the past, specifically last year.” said Marinette, an amused expression on her face.

“Actually I came up with it!” said Max.

“Originality was not your strong suit this time Max. She thought of it first.” said the young fashion designer as she pointed her finger in Lila’s direction.

“Oh, I almost forgot! The other reason we want you out is because you’re forgetful!”

“Again, on what basis is that?”

“This basis!” Lila pulled her hands from behind her, revealing Marinette’s cane. “It was found in the school library. You really have to take better care of your things. She gave it to the girl, who took it a bit forcefully. The young fashion designer turned towards the class.

“For the record…” she began and then looked at them, an idea coming to her. “Nah, screw it! Do what you want!” she said before she took her seat.

* * *

Marinette never thought her time as class representative would end with ‘screw it’, but oh boy was she happy. Ending anything on genuine indifference, being completely detached emotionally from whatever she ended, was something Marinette liked.

“She’s using black magic to make people like her! I just know it!”

“That sounds scary…”

If only she could enjoy the feeling right now, that would be great. The young fashion designer was in the art classroom. Together with her was Alix and Marc, as always, but other than that there were a few changes: Alya was there, so was Nino, Ivan and Adrien. And they were all talking about the ‘Lila situation’.

“Oh come one Alix! If Lila used magic I know for a fact Lady Monarch would send someone to get her.” said Alya. Marinette was impressed. Her friend went to what would be called a ‘new low’, something that Marinette called ‘weaponizing knowledge’.

“It sure isn’t normal! Mylene thinks Lila is ‘good’, even though we both know what kind of person she is.”

“You know, maybe we’d get to the bottom of this if we had the knowledge for it, but we don’t. Maybe we should call in an expert?” asked Nino. _Another attempt to goad me in the conversation. Nice try, but I’ll only join if the teacher is interested, which will not happen!_

“I’m a tad bit confused. Is Lila that one girl who wanted to model Marinette’s dress?”

“Not you too, Mister Grisaille!” grumbled Marinette in defeat. Every teen in the room cheered at their victory. “…Yes, Lila is the one who tried to model my dress. It’s a good thing I placed it in a garment bag, or else she would have found a way to ruin it.”

“So, now that we’re all talking, can you help us find out how Lila got everyone under her spell?” asked Alix.

“There is no spell! Unless you count the power of a good argument.” said Marinette, attracting Alya’s frustration.

“Oh, come on! You said that her arguments—“

“Max’s arguments! He said he came up with them.” said the young fashion designer, an innocent smile adorning her face.

“Wha— but you… You’re just trying to push our buttons.” replied Alya, realizing what was going on.

“Hey, you guys wanted me to talk, so I’ll talk!” Marinette got up from her very comfortable seat and began to walk around. “Also, I know what’s up with Lila. I just want to get some kicks out of stringing you along until you figure it out yourself.”

“A-actually, I was curious. I don’t exactly know much about this Lila. Could I get a… starter course?” asked Adrien, unsure of how to actually phrase his question.

“Sure! Lila is a sixteen year old teenage girl of Italian origin. She transferred to Fracoise Dupont last year and has been studying here as of present date. Her psychological profile shows she is a pathological liar with an inferiority complex and affection deprivation, the former most likely caused by a bad social experience and the latter caused by her mother’s neglect. Following the events of last year, her lying tendencies have been discovered and she underwent psychological treatment as well as spending time with her mother in order to correct her behavior. This year however, her compulsive lying has returned and seems to be associated with what looks like psychopathy, though I can’t figure out where that came from…” The whole room was silent. Marinette looked around and saw everyone’s faces, with emotions raging from disbelief to downright fear. “What? He wanted to know about her!”

“Since when do you know stuff like that?!” asked Alya.

“Since a long time? I was heavily into psychology, I still am in fact. Anyway, you guys are taking too long to figure out how Lila made everyone else like her, so I’ll tell you: Post hypnotic suggestion! Look it up!” said Marinette before leaving the room. As much as she wanted to avoid the problem, Alya had made a good point. It was time for Lady Monarch to investigate whether the Italian teen had magical powers.

* * *

After school Lila told her mom that she had a personal project to work on (the usual excuse she started telling in order to be left alone). The girl transformed into Volpina and went out. She had no idea why, but she loved the rain. She didn’t like cold as much as she did before (for obvious reasons), but she was beginning to warm up to it again. ( _Ba dum tss!_ )

Volpina was currently sitting on the top of The Eiffel Tower, enjoying the filling of small water droplets landing on her in a way reminiscent of a slow and delicate shower. Little did she know her day would get so much worse.

* * *

“Alright! Time to investigate!” said Marinette to the residents of her garden.

“Won’t it be weird if Lady Monarch decides to suddenly target a girl that has no connections to the villains?” asked Nooroo, thinking that Marinette might go out there as a champion and attack Lila.

“It will be weird, which is why I’m doing it another way. You know how the butterfly miraculous is overpowered in terms of allowing me to grant **any** ability I want to anyone who’s of ‘pure heart’?”

“Yes?” As much as he didn’t know where this was going, Nooroo had spent too much time around his mistress not pick up her curiosity.

“Purification rain! If Lila has any ‘black magic’ as Alix put it, then it would be rendered unusable. Not only that, but I can send the champion to purify Volpina’s miraculous as well.”

“Wow… That’s actually… ingenious! Nobody thought to do that ever! How do you come up with this kind of stuff?”

“I don’t know, it just seems logical to me I guess. Anyway; Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” The butterfly kwami flew into the brooch and activated it, the energy flaring forth and creating Lady Monarch’s hero suit. She twirled her cane above her as it turned into her miraculous tool, before letting it down and leaning on it. Lady Monarch held her hand upwards and waited for a few seconds, a butterfly landing on it. She turned it into a Fay and began to think aloud.

“Cloud champion that can purify negative or malicious magic… Wanna stick with the theme…? Yeah, definitely! Fly away my little Fay, and find the second half of the weather duo!”

The Fay did as it was told and flew out the open side window of the garden. A normal butterfly would have a lot of trouble flying in the rain, but not this one. He was a trooper on a mission! He also wanted to right the mistake with Bird-whistle! As a result he paid close attention to the specific person his lady was thinking of, and after some searching, he found her inside a nest, with Umbrella. The Fay squeezed himself through the closed window and entered, Umbrella immediately noticing him.

“Hey! It’s one of you guys! Is my lady asking for my assistance?” Umbrella wanted to be a champion, but the Fay knew his lady asked for someone else. He flew past Umbrella and went after the other one, quickly finding a place to snuggle. Cloud brooch, good name for her!

Mireille felt warmth encompassing her and felt the presence of someone else inside her head.

“Good luck…!” said Aurore, although looking at her, she could that her friend felt a little conflicted.

_“Greetings, Phantom Mist! My name is Lady Monarch! I am in need of service regarding a particular issue: it has come to my attention that there may be more sources of dark magic in this city, which is why I wish for your help in cleaning it all up! While you do that, keep an eye out for Volpina! A—“_

“Question: I think I know someone who may be using some dark magic, can I go after them?”

_“As long as you don’t go directly to them, yes!”_

“Then I will do it my lady!” said Mireille, the white-yellow light from her cloud brooch encompassing her entire body. She exploded into a dusty blue cloud and she couldn’t feel her body, lacked any kind of way to see what was happening outside as well. The sensation lasted only a few seconds and she felt her cloudy form, a form that could be shifted, reshaped and moved in a somewhat awkward way. Aurore, who had been covered by the cloudy mass saw a pair of white eyes suddenly open and stare at her. She then saw a bit of cloud shift and touch her cheek, something which made her chuckle.

“You probably should go! You have a time limit, you know.” The cloud suddenly moved out of the room and began to fly into the sky, a pitter-patter of white droplets raining down on everything. The cloudy champion had a good idea where to go, but as luck would have it, she happened to pass by The Eiffel tower first, and so she saw a bright blue figure enjoying the rain. _Volpina…_ she thought to herself as the butterfly symbol appeared.

“Be careful Phantom Mist! You may be unhittable, but the pin you have could be easily taken if you’re not attentive.” Phantom Mist nodded and proceeded to dive bomb. Volpina eventually saw her come down and jumped down herself, hiding ‘inside’ the tower. The vixen villain heard thunder and saw a white light flash before she heard the distinct sound of this champion leaving. She sighed in relief… but then felt heat. The rain was suddenly acid, white, burning to the touch and making her suit orange. The vixen villain quickly got out of the space where the rain was white and began to run. Atop her she saw a shadow and she stopped, turning around and looking. Everyone else outside out at the time felt like they should run, but they were completely transfixed by the champion before them. Unlike all other champions this one was a massive midnight blue cloud, towering over everyone. She looked feminine, if her form was any indication. She was an enormous force of nature, white eyes shining with the same thunderous energy that was coursing through her as she stared directly at Volpina, the vixen villain staring back. Volpina noted a place near the ‘torso’, where the electricity seemed much intense than the rest of the entity. _[Banter…]_ came a small whisper from one corner of Volpina’s mind and she felt an over encompassing need to obey.

“…So what’s your name? Cloudy? Rainy? Spa—” Volpina dodged to the side as the champion formed a hand and tried to grab her. _[Go… on…]_ instructed the same corner of Volpina’s mind.

“I still didn’t get your name! By the way, what do you think of the acid rain? I’m telling you, this pollution business is no good for Paris!” The champion frowned and turned back into an amorphous cloud, this time aiming to ram Volpina. The fox villain faked being scared and positioned herself to jump, her eyes locked on the place she thought the Fay object was. The champion pulled back and charged and Volpina crouched. Timing it correctly, she managed to jump through the champion’s body and snag the Fay object. The burning pain she received and the orange stains on her suit were not worth it, but at least she got the golden cloud pin. Volpina snapped it in two just as the champion reformed, causing her to turn into her civilian form, just as the Fay ran away, remaining yellow for some reason. Volpina heard the sound of a very familiar cat and bucked it, choosing to go through the sewers. _Good thing I have more than one pair of the same clothes!_ She thought to herself as she slowly made her way to the opening that was nearest to her house.

* * *

Adrien had gone directly home after Marinette had left the art classroom, he had some homework to do after all. While he did his homework Plagg tried to distract him, but he ignored his kwami’s attempts at trying to tell him… whatever he wanted to tell him. Once he had finished he looked at Plagg and asked.

“What’s up?”

“You’ve got several messages from Lady Monarch!” Adrien palled and turned into Chat Noir, exciting his room and going out into the rain. The moment that happened his staff phone rang and he got an earful from Lady Monarch. The butterfly hero was not happy with how he pretty much ignored her and wanted him to get to The Eiffel Tower as fast as possible. Unfortunately, his fastest wasn’t fast enough, as Volpina still managed to escape. Sighing in frustration, Chat decided to console himself by helping the depowered champion, Mireille, get home. 

Author’s notes:

  * Consequences all around!
  * Lila’s actions lead to Marinette losing her position as class representative!
  * Marinette’s actions as Lady Monarch seem to have made some nice(?) cosmetic changes to Volpina’s suit, in addition to making her hate rain of course!




	25. Chapter XXV : Scrolls and memories.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time for Volpina to finally take that scroll from the museum. But can she do it? Read and find out!

Following the fiasco that was Phantom Mist, Chat had been as punctual as he possibly could be during all the night patrols. The first one directly after Phantom Mist’s official debut was actually with said champion, the two of them working quite well despite the lack of verbal communication (Phantom was either unable or unwilling to talk to him… He hoped it was the former.). Lady Monarch was still a little mad with him and decided to implement a better system: both of them (under aliases) would connect to the Hero app and use it to send messages to one another. Their phones and Miraculous tools were to be connected at all times, and if there was some time where they didn’t have any plans, then they would go out and patrol.

Adrien was more understanding of the precautions taken, but he started to feel exhausted. Plagg assured him that butterfly users tended to be a little stuck up and have no sense of fun, but he couldn’t exactly agree, as Lady Monarch had demonstrated being able to say the same kinds of jokes as him and had not criticized or told off Chat for his (sometimes) inopportune quips. As the car pulled over to school he saw the one person that could make all his worries and problems go away while, paradoxically, making him very insecure. He jogged up to Marinette, his tiredness taking the edge off his nerves and greeted her.

“Hi.”

“Hi…” Looking at the girl, Adrien’s model smile (the one he put on because he had no idea how to hold his face around her) slipped off, a look of concern replacing it.

“Are you alright? You seem a little…”

“What?”

“Worn out!” He was so close to adding a ‘ma’am’.

“Oh!... Sorry, it’s just that I’m doing a thing and the person I’m doing it with has problems with coming on time.”

“What’s the ‘thing’?” asked Adrien. _There goes that jealousy again…_ he thought to himself.

“It’s one of my many secret projects. It’s nothing really personal.” she replied as if she realized what he was thinking.

The two teens entered the classroom and were greeted with another, this time smaller, change in seat arrangement, namely Alya and Nino sitting together. The two teens greeted them, Marinette nodding and going up to the desk behind the two, Adrien hesitating before Alya and Nino motioned him to ‘go up there’ and that ‘everything will be okay’. He made it up and saw how Marinette wasn’t leaning on the desk to nap before class like she usually did. Instead she was leaning her head on her right hand, her eyelids barely staying open.

“Y-you can nap for a bit before class. I can wake you up.” offered Adrien.

“…I don’t want to bother you…” came the reply.

“Don’t worry! I don’t exactly have anything else to do besides wait for the teacher.” Without the need for anymore confirmation Marinette put one arm over another and rested her head on them, beginning to sleep soundlessly. The first thought that crossed Adrien’s mind was _She looks so peaceful._ but then a very astute and cheeky corner of his mind piped up, sounding a lot like Plagg, saying _Wait, she’s already asleep?_ It seemed very weird for Adrien to see her fall asleep right away, but then again, being as tired as she looked would probably result in him falling asleep within seconds as well. When the teacher arrived Adrien felt a little guilty for waking up Marinette because she looked like she needed more sleep. However, the guilt of betraying her trust and not waking her up after insisting she sleep for a bit weighted more and so he woke her up. Every single hour of school was spent with the two teens sitting together and working on partner exercises ( _It’s like the teachers are in on it!_ ). Adrien couldn’t really complain since it gave him an excuse to talk to Marinette. The only problem was that he found it hard to talk with her at all, mostly responding with yes and no and occasionally saying an additional one or two words ( _Darn my random inability to speak!_ ).

After school was done for the day Adrien and Marinette made their way out of school together since the young fashion designer had to have a lesson with his father that day. On the way out his ears picked the word ‘girlfriend’ being whispered by one person or another and his cheeks heat up. Stealing a glance at Marinette didn’t seem to confirm or deny if she heard the whispers too, the girl having the same expression she used for everything: alert boredom. The two entered the car and Marinette turned to look at the window, but closed her eyes. _Morons throwing words around…_ she thought to herself angrily, pink dusting her cheeks.

* * *

The lesson on fashion history with Agreste went along quite well in Marinette’s opinion. She had had no idea her idol was such a good teacher and the effortless way he connected all the bits of information in a cohesive way made her wonder why he didn’t do the same with the other lessons. That curiosity had ended when she realized something: the lesson had a tempo, a rhythm, and Agreste seemed a tad bit bored. _He rehearsed it!_ though Marinette, a lazy smile forming on her face after the lesson was over and she left the man’s office. She went up to Adrien’s room, not wanting to walk home right away after what happened last time. When she reached the door to his room something weird happened: she hesitated. Her body felt heavy due to lack of sleep and her mind kept repeating the questions and comments she heard the _morons_ ask between themselves: _‘Are they, like, together?’ ‘There goes my chance at being with him…’ ‘What does he see in her? She’s just the grump from Miss Bustier’s class! ‘Is she really his **girlfriend**?’_

Marinette turned around and left, deciding that today she was too tired for anymore social contact. Leaving the mansion early had, thankfully, not resulted in Volpina being nearby and causing a major headache. The headache today would be of a different variety, if the ping from the hero app was anything to go by.

* * *

“How did we get stuck in this situation?” asked Marinette sarcastically, the teen currently stuck in a closet with Alix, the door being hit by someone outside.

“Listen, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have paradox looped you into making me a champion again my lady! Now can you stop moping around and help?”

“Nooroo?” Marinette and Alix looked at the kwami that was eating berries on the former’s shoulder.

“Just one more minute!”

“You heard him…” A loud thump was heard from the door, in toe with the sound of wood cracking.

“We don’t have a minute!” Nooroo finished eating and nodded.

“Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” The butterfly kwami entered the brooch and changed Marinette into Lady Monarch at the last possible second, as the door to the closet was broken down. The butterfly hero charged at the clones, sliding under the swipe of the front one, getting up by straightening her legs and elbowing the clone she just slid under in the head while dodging the lunge of the second clone’s bladed clarinet. Lady Monarch blocked the second attempt at being hit by delivering a hit along the length of the clarinet, causing the clone to drop her weapon. With her disarmed the butterfly hero delivered a blow right at the neck turning the clone into blue smoke.

“Showoff!” said Alix playfully as she got out of the closet. Lady Monarch turned to her and made a ‘gimme’ motion. The smile the pink haired teen had vanished and she handed over the bunny miraculous. With that accomplished Lady Monarch began to walk leisurely to where she knew Chat was. One the way there she felt the presence of an emotional light that was perfect for the situation.

“Young and speedy as well as bright and courageous… Wait, he’s the one that allowed Alix to escape before being turned into a champion! <giggle>, this is just perfect!” Lady Monarch let the butterfly out of the cane and turned it into a Fay.

“Fly fast, my wonderful Fay, and give the courageous older brother the power to defeat Volpina!”

* * *

When Lila heard a knock on the window and saw her master last night she thought he somehow found out what exactly happened a few days ago. Fortunately he didn’t, he only came to tell her tomorrow was time to steal that Egyptian scroll thing. The last time she was at the museum she was expressively told to keep her hands away from the scroll. Following the order given to her tonight, she couldn’t find the power to go back to sleep. Ever since she fought that cloud girl she had felt weird. She kept losing time… sometimes moments while, other times, entire hours. She kept hearing that voice inside her head, coming from the same corner of her mind, increasing in volume. At first it was like a part of her whispered advice, but now she realized the voice was distinct, if still feminine. The voice kept muttering advice, encouragements and rebellious thoughts. Under normal circumstances she would do Chai’s bidding without question, but now she didn’t seem to have the same empty minded outlook when it came to what she did. That was another thing. Besides the fact that she was losing time, she was also losing memories. She couldn’t remember much of what she did, who she attacked or hurt, what she stole. She couldn’t really remember how she came into the possession of the fox tail necklace in the first place. All the other memories seemed to be completely fine though, in fact they were a lot more vivid than she remembered them, especially the ones from the time she talked with her psychologist and the advice she had been given. All of this had made her feel a little bit like not wanting to work for Chai anymore. Not only that, but she was almost willing to make up with everybody. Marinette probably hated her by now, so making up was out of the question, especially after she took her role as class president. The option to give Lady Monarch and Chat the fox necklace was shoved off the table a long time ago, the idea of that scorpion coming after her filling her with too much fear to go through with it.

This was why, with heavy heart, she decided to go to the museum and try to steal that scroll. Predictably, Chat had shown up quite quickly, like he began to do after what happened with Phantom Mist (cause that was her name apparently). He and a few clones shared some punched, some kicks and some quips, the cat even applauding her for making what he considered a ‘good joke’ (which was in fact a fox pun, ‘I give zero fox’ to be specifically. She wondered if he realized what it was about or just said that). Timebender showed up pretty quickly as well and destroyed some of the clones, infuriating Volpina since she had problems making them now. Deciding that the ‘go big or go home’ strategy was not working, Volpina made a close pack of clones and sent them all over. These ones were not only easy to maintain, but she had an easier time keeping her attention on them, and thusly, keeping them alive. When she arrived at the location where the scroll was, she encountered some crazy guy trying to stop her. He was Alix’s older brother if she remembered correctly. The boy was obviously a history fanatic, almost to the same level of obsession to Chai, only less dangerous and definitely dumber than him. Looking at him more closely however, she saw that he was wearing a thick vest with the R.A.I.D. symbol on it, probably given to all Louvre staff in case she came back. _Ok, not dumb, but definitely exceedingly brave!_ She thought to herself. _[Have fun! But don’t hurt!]_ came the now customary voice of advice from inside that corner of her mind. She smiled and began to jump, watching as he scrambled after her, ready to catch anything that might fall. That song and dance continued on for about three minutes, in this time Chat being occupied with the clones and Alix, who had been depowered and cornered in a closet, having escaped due to Lady Monarch’s interference. The history fanatic was gasping for air by now, which was why she decided to walk over to the scroll. She regretted not running.

* * *

_“Greetings, Pharaoh! My name is Lady Monarch. I assume you’re quite aware of the pesky fox threatening to steal yet another artifact or two. My deal is simple: I give you the power to capture her and in return you remove her necklace and send it to me!”_

“Deal, my lady!” the white-yellow light surged from his scarab pendant invigorating him as he changed into a more powerful being. Volpina turned around and was face to face with a muscular, black skinned, statue-looking giant of a man. He had two necklaces, one alternating beads of white and red and the other looking like a red scabbard. He wore a golden shendyt, a golden mask with a nemes, fake beard and cobra at the top. His vibrant red eyes were staring right at her.

“Thoth, give me your time!” he said, his face mask changing into that of a baboon.

“Ew, I liked you better the way you were before!” Volpina’s comment seemed to have had no effect on the champion, as he launched a large bubble at her, followed by another and another. “Really?! That’s all you can do? Newsflash newbie, I already know how to deal with bubbles… or do I?” she finished, unsure of whether she actually fought anyone with bubbles as a weapon before this guy. Another bubble was sent her way and she jumped back, exciting the room just as the bars covered the doors, keeping the champion trapped. “Well, that was fun newbie, but I have to take this and bring it back to Chai, so… Bye!” she turned around, but stopped to hear the champion’s reply at her inner adviser’s request.

“My name is not ‘newbie’! I am the Pharaoh and I can do more than just ‘bubbles’. Sekhmet, give me your strength!” The champion’s face mask turned into that of a lion and he proceeded to pry the bars open with ease. Volpina immediately bucked it, hearing the champion call on the power of Khonsu, whoever that was. Her path as obstructed by a very fast Pharaoh with the head of falcon. He pulled back his fist and the vixen villain, following the example of Lady Monarch, slid under the attack. She then stood up in less fluid fashion compared to how the butterfly hero moved, before continuing her run. Pharaoh stood in her way two more times and her inner adviser told her to treat him more like an obstacle than an actual opponent. As a result, she jumped over him the first time and slid under his legs the second time.

Pharaoh, having enough of the fox’s insolence charged right into her, launching her into the room with Chat and making her drop the scroll. Volpina could barely move, all the clones ignoring Chat and running to their creator’s side, helping her up. Pharaoh ran to Chat’s side, his face mask turning back to its default state.

“My name is Pharaoh, Chat Noir! Delighted to meet you again after such a long time.” said the champion as he telekinetically pulled the scroll to his hand.

“What? Dude, I don’t know what you’re talking about. We haven’t met before.”

“Yes we—“ the champion grew silent as the butterfly symbol appeared.

_“Pharaoh? Are you talking about the events that took place over five thousand years ago in Egypt?”_ asked the ever insightful Lady Monarch. She was extremely tired, but she still remembered the things that Nooroo told her.

“Yes! Him and Ladybug had stopped me from bringing back Nefertiti! However, considering the circumstances of this meeting I am willing to put the past behind and forge a temporary alliance.” replied the champion, his eyes fixated on Volpina waiting for her move. That move never came however, as the real Volpina ran away and sent her clones to attack the champion and cat hero. Feeling disrespected, Pharaoh called upon the power of Sekhmet and claped his hands, causing a shockwave that destroyed all the clones at once. Volpina was nowhere to be seen. With swiftness, Lady Monarch depowered Pharaoh, despite still having time left. Jalil felt extremely disoriented enough to cause him to fall. After ensuring Chat Noir that he was alright and the cat hero left, he thought back to what had happened and found that there were a few new memories that shouldn’t have been there…

Author’s notes :

  * The fox miraculous is acting weird… I wonder who that adviser of hers is.
  * In regards to why Jalil had the memories of Tutankhamun, the next chapter will delve a little into that and explain what happened.




	26. Chapter XXVI : Team projects and partners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila is acting weird and Marinette wants to find out why! The blue haired girl however is faced with another reality: Volpina is acting weird too! Can she get to the bottom of it while also working as Lady Monarch? (Probably not.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is not a chapter posting day, but I'm posting today in order to make up for not doing that last Sunday. I'm actually posting two chapters today, this being the first.

Marinette was calmly making her way to school, her realization that she wasn’t actually running late making her feel less stressed. Limping on the sidewalk she noticed a familiar schoolmate also limping: Lila Rossi. Lila was dressed in a white dress and orange jacket. Her right leg was bandaged at the lower portion. Marinette had a hard time choosing which was more interesting: the injury or the fact that the teen’s ‘emotional light’ actually radiated two lights. She stopped thinking for a second, realizing what she was doing. _She’s a human being! A really horrible one, but still. Stop treating her like some science experiment!_

“If you had hurt your leg you should have stayed home.” she told the other girl, startling her.

“You have a cane limpy, I don’t think you’re qualified to talk!” retorted Rossi, before her expression changed from confusion to sadness as she looked away. The two of them continued their journey in silence, the young fashion designer occasionally pulling her this way and that so she wouldn’t collide with anybody. The two of them eventually made it to school, Marinette letting Lila enter the classroom first, not minding that they barely arrived on time, since she just remembered: they were going to choose teams for the project today. The choice was random, everyone taking out a number from a hat, only two of the same number being there, meaning that there will be teams of two. Luckily Chloe wasn’t here so the teams would be exact, not that she would have done any work to begin with. After everybody took a number the teams were announced.

“Number one?” asked Miss Bustier.

“Me!” said Max and Mylene.

“Number two?”

“Us!” said Juleka and Rose.

“Number three?”

“Here!/I’m it!” said Marinette and Lila, the two turning around to look at each other. The rest of the class started whispering before Miss Bustier made them quiet down, returning to the task at hand. After all the morning classes were done Marinette noticed a few of her classmates gathered around Lila’s desk as she made to leave.

“What happened to your leg?” asked Rose.

“Hit it on a table…” she responded before getting out of the group and exiting the classroom. Marinette eyed her a bit curiously. Lila’s ‘emotional light’ screamed ‘lying’ but what was interesting was **how** she lied. She didn’t blow it out of proportions for attention, like Marinette expected she would. Alya noticed how Marinette was following the girl in orange and white with her eyes.

“You’re not going to do what I think you will, right?” asked Alya.

“No. For now I’m going to go to the library. Maybe I’m going to go all Sherlock on it later.” responded Marinette, making Alya sigh.

She made her way out of the classroom and went to the library s she said, taking books from the various bookshelves, as she made her way to the back of it. While she did this she bumped into Lila who seemed to have had the same idea as her. Marinette made her way to the back, motioning for Lila to follow. Lila looked at her quizzically, but her adviser told her to follow. When they arrived at the back she stopped in her tracks, staring at her. Marinette sat down and stared back.

“Why are you being nice to me?” she finally asked.

“It’s called being humane. I haven’t done this in while, so I thought I could give it a shot again.”

“But why with me?” asked the teen.

“Curiosity.”

“’Curiosity’?”

“Are you hearing voices?” asked the young fashion designer out of the blue. Lila froze, feeling the sensation of loosing time again. At that moment she coldly responded with:

“I’m not crazy, pigtails.” This made Marinette smile as she saw the look on confusion on Lila’s face returning just after she said those words.

“Do you remember your response?”

“Uh…” Lila had no idea what she just said and so she had no idea how to reply. Marinette patted the back of the empty chair next to her in invitation. _[It’s ok! She doesn’t bite.]_ assured her adviser. Lila sat down and looked at the young fashion.

“Earlier you mentioned you hit your foot on a table, you don’t really believe that thought. So what happened?”

“I… don’t quite remember. I know I hit my leg while I was out… I think?”

“Ok. When you are somewhere, do you sometimes feel like you don’t know how you got there?” Lila hesitated but her adviser prompted her to respond.

“All the time… Just this morning I woke up and went to the bathroom and then the next moment I’m in the kitchen, dressed and ready to go, holding an apple in my hand.

“Do you know if any significant amount of time passed?

“I’m not sure… I didn’t look at the clock…”

“Try doing that next time. Actually wait, do you have a wristwatch?”

“Yes.”

“Wear it and occasionally check the time. If you see that a significant amount of time had passed in a flash, then you know something is wrong.”

“…Why are helping me?”

“I already told you: I’m curious!”

“What happens if you’re right and something is wrong?”

“Well, for starters, you can talk about it, get the stress out of the way, then we can find out why, Ok?”

“Ok…”

“Good, let’s get started on the project then!” Marinette started opening her books at what seemed to be random pages, Lila noting with awe that the pages were actually related to the project’s topic.

“You really are that good with books, huh?” she asked, moving closer to Marinette. The young fashion designer nodded, a proud smile in her face. The rest of the lunch was spent eating and working on the project, time flying by.

* * *

After school was out everyone left to go home, some going to a friend’s home to continue working on the project Miss Bustier assigned them. Marinette and Lila didn’t need to do that since they had already done a good portion of it. The two girls went their separate ways after they exited the school, Marinette trying to reach Alya and Sabrina, while Lila went alone.

“You were right!” said Sabrina to Alya.

“I told I know Marinette! She can’t keep away if she sees a problem or something interesting. I’m betting it was the latter.”

“Yes, she’s so obsessed when she sees something interesting, right girls?” asked Marinette, startling the other two.

“W-we weren’t t-talking about you!” said Sabrina.

“Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you for a little gossip. Besides I didn’t seek her out, we just happened to have a mutual distrust regarding the other’s cooperation resulting in us meeting at the library!”

“Wait so you two actually worked together?!” asked Alya.

“Yeah! She seemed broken…”

“’…and I must fix her!’ Now you’re interested and see a problem!” replied the blogger.

“She’s a puzzle! I can’t help it, I have to solve it!”

“So you have the ‘Rubik’s complex’?” asked Sabrina.

“I’m not gracing that with a response. I’m going to need some time to think… I’m heading home and to play some violin. See you tomorrow!”

* * *

Music was heard through the bakery, Marinette playing her instrument with a recording of piano playing as accompaniment. She stopped, not finding the peace of mind she usually did and climbed up into the garden. Nooroo followed her up, concerned.

“Are you feeling ok? You said that Lila made you sick, and you just spent a long time with her.”

“She’s radiating, which means that I can’t get sick anymore. My current sickness is caused by the weirdness of the situation. I mean why would Rossi spontaneously develop multiple personalities.”

“Does she have multiple personalities?”

“She’s loosing time, not remembering some of her actions, shifting between being cold and uncaring as well as normal, showing confusion from these shifts and her emotional light seems like it’s split in two. If she doesn’t have more personalities then she’s one hell of an actor.”

Marinette’s phone buzzed, the hero app alerting her that an unknown villain was causing chaos near the Seine.

“My questions will have to wait though. Nooroo, fairy wings rise!”

Marinette transformed into Lady Monarch, standing there and looking for a potential champion that was near.

“Huh, well this is ironic… This is going to be interesting!” she said as she made a Fay.

“Fly away my wonderful Fay, and give the confused soul the power to choose a side!”

* * *

_I never wanted a partner! It’s bad enough that I have to do all this stuff, why did Chai had to drag someone else into this!_ thought Volpina angrily as she hid behind a wall, away from the fight, a very good clone fighting for her. She was so absorbed in her boiling thoughts that she didn’t notice the Fay that went towards her and landed on her necklace. She stiffened when her body was overcome with warmth and happy emotions. She had no idea how to react…

_“You don’t need to fret Miraculous Charmer! I’m here to give you a chance to redeem yourself. I can give you the power to stop this other villain without anyone knowing it was you who did it and in return you can give me his miraculous. What do you say?”_

“No! I can’t— he’ll find out— hurt me!” she said, the wave of cowardice and negativity repelling the Fay, the golden butterfly flying away back to its master. Volpina suddenly felt as if she wasn’t there anymore. It wasn’t like the time she was being controlled. Her body was her own, she could move it how she pleased, but it felt distant and alien. Her vision was blurry and so she wiped at her eyes, removing the tears that had formed. _Why was I crying…?_ she asked herself. Volpina stood there, vaguely aware that her illusionary clone was still going. The vixen put it on autopilot and left it to fight for her and that red guy. She only came to her senses when a familiar voice spoke.

“Hey Volpina, your suit’s seen better days! Why don’t you let me have a look at it?” said the champion, extending her arm to catch her. Volpina dodged out of the way and hid again, playing a low discordant note on her clarinet-flute (she still had no idea what that was about) and creating a thin illusionary layer over her, making her seem normal. She joined the fight for real, noticing that her ‘partner’ was now dealing with both Chat Noir and Seamstress, the clone not helping enough.

* * *

“You kids have no respect for your elders! I wish you would just listen to me and give up your jewels. My master needs them back!” said the red villain.

“Maybe we don’t want to give up our miraculouses because your ‘master’ is a bad guy! Did you ever think of that Ladybug Jester?” retorted Chat Noir, as he dodged the expert yo-yo tricks the adult villain used, the yo-yo knocking over lamp posts and making cracks in the ground. Volpina finally arrived on the scene and took a closer look at her partner: He was tall, dressed in a black bodysuit with red spots, metallic red armor that had pointy shoulder pads. On his head he wore a metallic red helmet, shaped to fit his head and cover everything but his ears; finally he wore arm guards and boots, both of these colored a metallic red. After she stopped staring she attacked the heroes, making sure to avoid the yo-yo that her partner threw around.

“Ah! I was wondering when I would get more help. Mind you, why don’t you send more clones my way, eh?” asked Ladybug Jester in an echoing, deep, jovial voice, probably because of the helmet.

“I’ve realized it’s better to have a few good clones instead of a bunch of bad ones!”

“So you’re using the reverse storm trooper strategy?” asked Chat, making Seamstress laugh and lose control of the punch she was launching, accidentally hitting Volpina instead of Ladybug Jester, a big cloud of smoke expanding from the small concentrated illusion that made up her outfit. She used the diversion to hide and make another clone to help the second one while Ladybug Jester decided to use his special power.

“Lucky charm!” a bunch of ladybugs came out of the yo-yo and formed a ball and chain. Ladybug Jester looked around and noticed that their fight was close to the river. He smiled, going in that direction, Chat going after him as Seamstress took care of the clones, finding the real Volpina shortly after. Ladybug Jester suddenly stopped and turned around on Chat, causing the hero to try and stop, almost landing into the river. He noticed too late that the lucky charm was wrapped around his leg, the object being pushed by the villain into the water, dragging the cat hero with it.

“NO!” shouted Seamstress, making Ladybug Jester turn to her. He noticed that she was holding on to a struggling Volpina. His earrings already starting to beep.

“Let him go and I’ll let her go, deal?” asked Seamstress. Ladybug Jester looked back at the river and then at Volpina, making his decision after seeing her desparate, pleading look.

“Miraculous ladybug!” the lucky charm reappeared in his hand and he threw it up into the air, the ball and chain bursting into a bunch of magical ladybugs that flew around and repaired everything, bringing Chat next to Seamstress and Volpina next to him. The two villains made their retreat, the heroes following until they lost track of them.

* * *

“We lost them!” said Volpina as her partner transformed back. She eyed him wearily, noticing that he was somebody she had seen before, lots of times in fact.

“Hey you’re that guy at the museum!” she finally said.

“Mr. Kubdel! I’m flattered that you picked up on my identity so quickly!” he gave a hearty chuckle that ended in a bit of a cough. She raised an eyebrow.

“Sore throat… Do you happen to have some water on you?”

“No sorry!... Why did you remove your miraculous?” Volpina noticed that Mr. Kubdel was holding the red earrings with black spots in his hand.

“O-oh, I’m just waiting for them to recharge! Go on without me, I’ll go on my way!”

“Recharge?... Does that mean you don’t actually need them like I do?”

“Ehh… Master Chai didn’t tell me much… but he did say something about ‘not fit’ and ‘time limit’. I was too distracted by the earrings to pay attention!” He gave her an embarrassed smile, scratching the back of his head with his trembling right hand. Volpina didn’t say much to that, deciding to follow his advice and leave. Once he made sure she was far enough away he put the earrings back on, a certain kwami appearing before him. He gave a cookie to the grumbling god and once she ate it he transformed and left the roof he was on.

Author’s notes :

  * With this another chapter is done. We are nearing the end of ‘Some fox villain’ arc and we will get to the next one soon. This next one will be a little shorter, but still interesting.
  * The reason the ladybug miraculous beeped is because Tikki forced the time limit. She may be a free prisoner, being tied to her miraculous and all that, but that doesn’t mean she can’t make the villain’s job harder.
  * Now that the corrupting venom of the scorpions is losing its potency and the fox kwami is no longer numb from it Lila is no longer immune to the Fays. She can still resist them though.




	27. Chapter XXVII : Psychology is an art (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette continues on trying to find out what is wrong with Lila, but is surprised by what the Italian teen tells her. Before she can find out more Lila has to 'do a thing'. Meanwhile, Nathaniel tries to gather the courage necessary to ask Marinette something and decides to get some advice form the class representative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is not a chapter posting day, but I'm posting today in order to make up for not doing that last Sunday. I'm actually posting two chapters today, this being the second.

Following what happened yesterday Marinette had been a bit on edge. The fact that there was now a new villain meant that the scorpion had **at least** two miraculouses, if not more. The possibility of him having the entire box was actually very frightening as that meant he would be able to build up a small army of people. Of course, there was the problem of loyalty standing in his way, as he could only corrupt one person at a time, since there aren’t many selfish idiots in Paris, at least not that she knew of. The first person that would come to Marinette’s mind would be Chloe, since the girl was very egotistical and had no qualms about doing bad things, to the point that she would probably help Chai after being buttered up. There was also the stuff with Lila, the girl being extremely weird and seemingly having two personalities, which was a big problem especially since she was the class representative.

Marinette felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to her left. There she saw Lila, who smiled brightly.

“Hey!” she greeted cheerfully.

“Hi? Are you doing ok?” asked Marinette, a little suspicious of the girl’s behavior.

“Uh… yeah? Was I not supposed to say hi like that?”

“No— I mean you were— but why suddenly so cheerful?”

“Oh, well I saw that you were in a cloudy mood and, um… thought you needed some cheering up!” _[Smooth!] Shush you! You’re my adviser not my snarker, I have a completely different section for that! [You know I have a name. Just because I don’t remember— She’s staring at you, act natural!]_

Lila looked at Marinette, who really was staring at her, an amused smile on my face. She quickly excused herself for loosing herself in her thoughts and the two moved on. Arriving at school Marinette saw that Alya was completely missing. Lila, who was just about to ascend the stairs, was stopped, her arm caught by the hooked handle of Marinette’s cane.

“I need someone to wake me up when the teacher comes in.” said Marinette. Lila looked around before pointing at herself. “Yes, you. You and Nathaniel don’t really have much in common so he won’t miss you too much.” Lila felt a little offended at the comment but she could see the girl’s reasoning. Besides, the hate from before didn’t really seem that strong anymore. There was something else there that she couldn’t quite put.

* * *

After school was out both Marinette and Lila decided to go to the library and finish the project. After that Lila had decided to tell Marinette about her situation.

“I only lost about an hour today. Like all day I only lost the one hour and it wasn’t even a whole hour! Well, it was, but not all at once, kind of like short bursts here and there making up the hour. That’s good, right?” Marinette was completely flabbergasted. Yesterday, Lila showed symptoms of DID and today they were magically diminished. There was only one other logical explanation to this anomaly.

“Lila, be honest with me: Did you receive any objects recently, like from the beginning of school or sometime earlier?” she asked and she noticed how the girl’s body and ‘emotional light’ tensed. _Gotcha!_

_She’s onto me, what do I do? [First of, calm down; second, don’t try to deny it, ‘cause she clearly won’t buy it; third tell her yes and allow the discussion to develop from there!]_ Lila did as she was told and calmed down, confusing Marinette.

“Yes.” she said simply.

“…and?” prompted the young fashion designer. _[Can I borrow your mouth?] You can do that? [I don’t know, let’s find out! Science for the science god!]_

Lila felt a little nudge from a part of her mind and she gave her adviser the helm. The next moment she realized that the sensation she felt was horribly familiar before calming down. When she had first been controlled by Chai she felt like somebody pulled her away from the chair in front of the helm and her body was so, so cold! This time though, she had **given** the helm and even then, her adviser did the equivalent of pulling up a chair next to her. They were both able to control but Lila had given her adviser the helm willingly. This was why she was acutely aware that her hands were clasped in front of her face, hiding a small smile that seemed very devious, yet so fitting for her adviser.

“Is this relevant to my ‘condition’?”

“I… never said anything about a condition.”

“That’s implied though, isn’t it?” Marinette eyed her suspiciously, before a smile graced her face. _If I’m wrong about my hunch then this is going to be really embarrassing._

“Forget what I asked earlier! I’m more interested on who I’m talking to at the moment.” This made Lila raise her eyebrows and drop her hands on the table.

“Is she onto us again?” _Yes, also you said that out loud dummy!_

“The thing I was thinking of was DID by the way. May I know your name?”

“I’m, well… I don’t know… Chippy! Starlow sounds better though…” _No! Don’t pillage my memories! At least not those memories…_

“Nice! You seem like the tricky type of person. How long have you been swimming around inside her head? Are you the reason she used to lie or did you split from her after that? Do you hate me in any way?”

“Definitely no for the last one, you’re pretty cool all things considered. I—“ Starlow was cut off by the sound of a jingle going off. Lila suddenly took control of her body and checked her phone.

“I’m going to be late! Sorry Marinette, this was actually very cool, but I need to go and do a thing. We’ll talk tomorrow or later today, bye!” she said before running away in a hurry.

Lila ran out of the library and crashed into someone. Picking herself up and looking at the person she crashed into she saw that it was Nathaniel. The boy was picking up scattered pieces of paper off the ground and so Lila decided to help him pick them up. Once the two were back on their feet she asked:

“Are you ok? I was kind of going full speed ahead.”

“I’m fine… Do you have a moment? I wanted to talk about something.”

“Uh…” She looked at her watch: she was already late. “Sure! Try to keep it short though, ok?”

“Ok.” Nathaniel closed his eyes and breathed deeply before opening his eyes again. “I like Marinette and I have these tickets for a new museum exhibit about the evolution of fashion and I want to ask her out.” he said simply.

“… Don’t you think that’s something you need to tell her?” asked Lila amusedly.

“I know, but— I’m afraid to tell her to her face!”

“Do you have a phone?”asked Lila.

“What…?”

“If you don’t feel up to it then you could record yourself saying the words and show her that.”

“Oh, but isn’t that a bit… cheap?”

“Look, it’s either that or you pretend you’re your comic book character and man up! Now I really got to leave or I’ll be late. If need anything you can get my contact from the class chat! See you later!” she said as she ran away, hoping to find a nice hidden place to transform and leave her schoolbag at. Last time she had to leave it in the sewers and she ended up buying a new one.

Nathaniel kept looking where Lila had left and sighed. The advice wasn’t bad but it was a bit rushed and spoke of her looking at his _private art_ … Not like Marinette would have done. He didn’t really understand why the class had wanted to replace Marinette. The girl was perfect in the position, being paradoxically patient and kind in spite of her gruff appearance. Of course most of her advice and solutions stood in the ‘tough love’ category, but she delivered it in such a way that made their problems seem important. She—

“Did she tell you why she had to leave?” asked Marinette, the young fashion designer having sneaked upon him. The artist turned and looked at her seeing she was looking in the same direction as he did a moment ago while she took two pills. “Did she?” asked Marinette again, now looking at him.

“Um… N-no!” Nathaniel quickly realized that they were basically right next to each other, only a foot of empty air standing in between them. The young fashion designer began to walk away towards the bend of the corridor and so Nathaniel followed Lila’s advice and summoned all the courage he could. “Marinette, wait!” She stopped. _Maybe I can do it? Yes! Just don’t stumble on your words._

“Marinette, I wanted to ask you something.” she didn’t turn around, waiting. _Is she waiting?_ “I, um… I wanted to tell you… um…” he took a deep breath and said it:

“I like you! Like, like-like, not just normal friendship-like. So, um, would you like to go out with me to this museum exhibit?” he asked, hopeful. Marinette’s response was immediate.

“No.” She then resumed walking and left him there.

Author’s notes:

  * I was aiming for a cold ending so I hope I nailed it.
  * Next time we get into the action! There’s a reason this contains the word art.




	28. Chapter XXVIII : The artist (Part 2)

“That’s one of the most horrible things I ever heard you say.” said Alya before blowing her nose.

“Really? What was I suppose to say then? ‘Oh Nathaniel, you’re so dreamy! Let’s forget about this first date and get married.’” Marinette stuck her tongue out in disgust, ducking behind a comic book she found in the room in a vain attempt at avoiding this discussion.

“No, but <Sneeze> b-but <Sneeze> you <A lot of sneezing>” Alya couldn’t reach her conclusion as she kept on sneezing. A moment later, her dad came into the room with a bowl of soup.

“Hey, maybe the two of you should talk about something else? It seems whatever you’re talking about is making Alya stress sneeze.”

“I would love to talk about something else!” said Marinette.

“She broke someone’s heart…” said Alya, her voice so wheezy her dad didn’t understand a thing. She thanked her dad for the soup and the man left. Marinette lowered the comic book and looked at her friend eating her soup.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?” she asked.

“… <Sniff> As much as you want to <cough> deny it, you tend to worry a lot.” That made the two chuckle a little.

“Look, if it makes you feel better then I’m gonna go and apologize to him, ok?” asked the young fashion designer.

“Sure, go for it! <Sneeze>”

“Alright, I’m gonna come back to check on you later.” Marinette gave a two finger salute before reaching the door. The sound of Alya’s phone and her own buzzing stopped the blue haired girl in her tracks. It was a hero app alert.

“ETA six minutes?”

“There’s no way you’re done in six, especially not with the museum being the location.”

“Wanna bet?” Alya became pale and shook her head. Marinette turned around, leaving her friend’s room and home.

* * *

Adrien thought that today was the day that he would ask Marinette out. The universe itself seemed to be in agreement, as a fashion history exposition was going to be held at Louvre for the week. So imagine his surprise when he saw Nathaniel, someone that didn’t even talk to Marinette, or anyone really, ask her out. That had taken the wind out of his sails. The only thing that he could consider good was that Marinette rejected him, even if she was very cold and direct about it. He was relieved at not having lost the chance to ask Marinette out, but the way she acted made him think twice about asking out, at least for today. There was still the rest of the week.

The blond and his best friend were now at his house, playing videogames together when Nino’s phone played the alarm sound of the hero app and Adrien’s phone buzzed.

“Hey Nino, you continue playing, I have to go to the toilet!”

“Ok, see you in an hour!” said Nino nonchalantly, making Adrien cringe. The blond entered the bathroom and closed the door, his cat kwami coming out of his flannel’s pocket.

“You know, he’s kind of right, your excuse is starting to sound flimsy.”

“I know, but what am I suppose to say? I can’t tell him I’m going to get snacks since that won’t work, if I tell him I’m going out for a bit he’d want to come, there’s no way he’d buy that I’ve got homework so he needs to go when he knows I do stuff with him only when I’m done…”

“You smell of camembert.” said Plagg simply.

“Yeah, I know, what does that have to do with— Oh! I could give the excuse of having a shower to get rid of the smell!”

“Exactly! Now, I may be a bit childish, but I’m mature enough to admit that there are people who don’t like the smell of the wonderful, dreamy, Camembert!”

“Thanks Plagg, you’re the best!”

“I already know kid!”

“Plagg! Claws out!” The cat kwami entered the miraculous jewel, generating the magical energy that created Chat’s suit, his cat years, mask and tail. With his transformation complete he left through the convenient bathroom window.

* * *

“…So that’s the plan to get everything done in five minutes! What do you think?”

“I’m not sure Marinette, you shouldn’t rush things, also I don’t know if Nathaniel is such a good choice in his current state of mind, if he is at the museum that is.” responded Nooroo.

“Don’t worry, I know how to get around that as well and as for not being at the museum, I know that’s not the case. Redhead’s probably wallowing in self pity right about now…” Marinette’s smile faded as she looked back at her kwami, who had his arms crossed and a disappointed expression on his face. “Right, that’s rude. Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” The butterfly kwami entered the brooch, generating the magical energy that created Lady Monarch’s costume before moving on to the cane she twirled in the air, turning it into her miraculous tool. Opening the crystal lid she let the white butterfly out, the little creature flying in circles to get rid of its sleepiness before sitting in the hero’s palm and getting turned into a Fay.

“My champion for this occasion is already decided. Fly away my loyal Fay, and find the pure creative soul tortured by loneliness!” The Fay did as it was told, going to find the boy.

* * *

Volpina didn’t know what was worse, the fact that she had to play along with Ladybug Jester, or the fact that she had to hurt one of her classmates, one of which she actually had tried to hurt before! When Chat had arrived to do his thing she kind of felt good. The R.A.I.D. officers were easy to take out, especially since there were just a few and none of them got the chance to call for reinforcements. Volpina kept thinking about this rotten situation she was in as she and some clones, alongside her ‘partner’, attacked Chat.

The cat hero did his usual job, slashing away at the clones as they came at him and having his staff boomerang through the entire room, forming a sort of safe zone around the teen he was protecting. What was interesting was how the miraculous tool was ‘dodging’ Ladybug Jester’s yo-yo throws and the clones' attempts at catching it as if it had a mind of its own. Having decided to not prance around waiting for the champion to show up, the ladybug villain ordered his partner to make a more physically imposing illusionary construct, the vixen obeying and deciding to flex her imagination muscles by making a Hippoman. The creature charged Chat and Alix, and at that moment another person entered the fray.

* * *

After being rejected by Marinette, Nathaniel felt awful. Not only was he shut down hard on his birthday, but the pocket money he put aside for buying the tickets was wasted. Well, not exactly, as he decided to go it alone, having been at least partially interested in the expo himself. After the attack however he felt a little relieved that he got rejected, as even if he didn’t, his date with Marinette would have been utterly destroyed by Volpina and that new villain, Ladybug-something. Having nothing better to do (and the rejection making him numb to any fear whatsoever) he followed the source of the noise and saw Volpina, Ladybug Jester ( _That was his name!_ ) and Chat fighting, the cat hero keeping the others away from Alix. Suddenly, a giant bipedal hippo with human legs and arms charged at Chat and Alix. That moment, he moved without thinking and grabbed Alix by the arm, pulling her away.

“WOW! Nat, dude, what are you doing here?”

“That’s not important now, we need to—“ Nathaniel cut himself off and stopped, pulling Alix near an exhibit and hiding behind it, all the while Alix and him motioning for the Fay to follow. As Alix looked for an object for the Fay, the little creature entered Nathaniel’s lucky pencil, the one he received as a Christmas gift two years ago. The butterfly symbol soon followed and Nathaniel was hit with a feeling of boldness and positivity.

_“Greetings, Invoclustrator! My name is Lady Monarch and I can grant you the power to make any art piece of yours real. To sweeten the deal I can also allow you to control the transformation and skip the time limit so you could, maybe, wow a certain cute raven haired girl?”_ Nathaniel’s face turned into a tomato immediately.

“H-How did you know about that?”

_“Oh, I know lots of things… lots of things… So! Do we shake on it, artist?”_ Unbeknownst to the boy Lady Monarch was actually pantomiming sitting in front of him and holding her hand to shake.

“S-sure!” came his squeaky voiced reply before he cleared his throat and, with a comically deep voice, gave a more complete response: “ **Yes, my lady!** ” The magical energy flared forth from his pencil and covered his form, dimming to reveal… Nathaniel Kutzberg?

“Wait, I’m still me?” to his response came the melodic chuckle of his lady followed by a verbal reply.

_“Copycat had the same issue... You see Invoclustrator, you can control whether or not you are transformed, but you have to do it manually with the help of special combination of words. Yours is ‘Quantum image’”_

“’Quantum image’?” The moment the words escaped his mouth a flash of light changed him into Invoclustrator, a champion with a soft purple butterfly mask covering his face, with a beret that covered his purple tipped messy orange hair, a bodysuit with black legs that faded into orange, and white chest and arms with black lines going horizontally through them, in the center of his chest sitting the three secondary colors, orange green and purple. Over his body suit he wore a black sleeveless tailcoat tuxedo, its breast pocket holding the pencil.

“Wow! Cool costume!” Alix and Invoclustrator turned their heads to the left to see Volpina nonchalantly leaning on the exhibit and looking at them, a happy smile on her face. The champion immediately got up and pulled Alix behind him, taking out his pencil as a drawing board manifested on his opposite arm bellow the wrist.

“Oh, we’re doing it now? Ok, um, what’s your name?” asked Volpina, surprising the champion and the bunny miraculous holder.

“Involustrator?”

“You’re awfully nonchalant about this!” remarked both Alix, Lady Monarch thinking the same thing.

“Yeah, I haven’t really worked with Jester much, but I already feel I want to go solo again, anyway, he said he’d take care of Chat and I should go after Alix’s watch thingy so—“  
“— that’s what I’m doing!” Alix turned around to see another Volpina holding on to her watch. Invoclustrator made his move, drawing a bunch of edged boomerangs after seeing Chat’s claws work so effectively on the clones. The boomerangs flew around and attacked both Volpinas, one running away followed by Alix while the other did a ‘how low can you go’, dodging the majority of the boomerangs. Unfortunately she fell in the trap most people do and forget that **they come back**. The moment they landed she turned to smoke and disappeared along with the boomerangs, them being unmade by Invoclustrator. The champion then created a hover board and pair of hippogriffs to follow Volpina.

* * *

“Ugh, that’s gonna leave a mark.” Chat was struggling to get up from the floor, having successfully managed to get the Hippoman and Ladybug Jester to a more open part of the museum, but not without receiving a lot of damage.

“Ready to give up yet sport?” asked Ladybug Jester receiving a high speed collapsed staff to the face.

“I’m just getting started **chief**!” said Chat, catching the staff as it came back. Ladybug Jester, who was now on the floor, angrily ordered the illusionary construct to attack. Chat having used the tried and true method of ‘slice it with the claws’ and finding it useless, decided to attempt a different angle. He threw his staff lower to the ground and timed it to stretch the whole distance between two walls of the room just as the charging Hippoman got close. The result was the thing falling and turning into smoke.

“Good thing it worked, phew! Alright spots let’s go!” challenged Chat. Ladybug Jester was happy to oblige.

* * *

Volpina was really cursing her luck with the hurt leg, her speed being considerably hampered to the point a normal, if athletic, teen was able to keep up. As much as she wanted to just give up, Chai would be furious at hearing she got beat up by a civilian. This was why when she saw the big honking bird creature come at her she didn’t really fight it, pretending to react too slowly and getting herself slammed into the nearest wall as her illusionary suit disappeared, leaving her real suit with orange and white stains. Then another idea came and she was very happy with the genius of her moment. The vixen traitor deliberately threw the pocket watch towards Alix, this action making the teen girl and champion stop in their tracks.

_“What’s she trying to do?”_ asked Lady Monarch aloud.

“Are giving up?” asked Involustrator, a bit hopeful.

“No— Yes? Can you make a copy of her watch?” asked Volpina, Invoclustrator, Alix and Lady Monarch immediately realizing what was happening.

“Ohh, someone’s a smart little fox! Timebender you should probably leave in case she’s bluffing.” said Lady Monarch through the champion.

“Got it!” replied the pink haired teen. The champion followed his lady’s advice, making a replica of Alix’s watch and letting Volpina free. The vixen happily took the replica and began to run away in a false retreat, Invoclustrator keeping up the charade by following her.

* * *

“Poor form kitty-cat! It looks like you still have to learn before going against a pro!” said Ladybug Jester triumphantly, his rope lucky charm tying Chat up pretty tightly.

“Turn tabling in three, two, one. Cataclysm!” Chat activated his special ability and touched the rope, the destructive energy nibbling on it until there was nothing more than dust. Before one of the two combatants could make another move Volpina ran into the large room.

“I got it! I got it!” sad Volpina as she ran for her life, avoiding the hippogriffs and a three headed Hydra the champion was riding.

“Splendid work partner, we are not leaving empty handed for once!” replied Ladybug Jester as he jumped up into the air and used his yo-yo to swing away, Volpina making a cloud to fly away with. Chat and Invoclustrator continued after them until Volpina used her cloud as a smokescreen for her and the Ladybug villain to escape into the sewers.

“We lost them again!” said Chat a bit frustrated, his ring beeping, announcing that he still had four minutes left.

“Don’t worry Chat, I think that you guys are still in the clear!” Chat turned around and saw Alix holding her pocket watch in her hand.

“Wha— But how?— When?—“

“We could say that we cleverly performed switcheroo, but that would be false. Volpina willingly gave up the watch and asked for a fake.” said Lady Monarch through the champion before discretely disconnecting.

* * *

Marinette detransformed and went inside the residential building, retracing her steps and entering Alya’s apartment with the excuse that she forgot something. Once inside she entered her friend’s room and showed her timer.

“Six minute exactly…! Good thing I decided to not bet on you being slower.” said Alya, her voice sounding more normal.

“You feeling better?” asked Marinette as she dropped at the foot of the bed, the quick walk up having been bad for her leg.

“Yep! Dad’s ‘Please feel better’ soup worked its magic.” said Alya as she began to pat Marinette’s head.

“Please don’t mess my already tangled hair with germs on your hand…”

“<Giggle> Don’t worry I made sure to keep disinfectant handy way before you got here. Anyway what happened?”

“My champion and Chat didn’t catch them if that’s what you wanted to know, but I did discover something **really** important.”

“What’s that?” asked Alya, now very curious.

“Volpina is reluctantly villainous now. The corruption of her miraculous is slowly disappearing.”  
“That’s great news, but what actually happened to get you to that conclusion?”

“Well, Ladybug Jester and her spilt up and I had my champion go after her. After she got pinned to a wall she gave up Alix’s watch, the thing she was after, and asked for a fake. Her suit is also getting its colors back slowly. Anyway I had Invoclustrator make her a fake.”

“How’d you accomplish that?”

“I gave Nathaniel the power to make everything he drew real, making him the Invoclustrator. Speaking of Nathaniel, I’ve got to go. I kind of set up an apology date for myself as Lady Monarch.” said Marinette.

“No way…” replied Alya in disbelief.

“Yes way! I’ll film it to prove it.”

“Bring him down gently this time ok?”

“…I’ll try since you and Nooroo are in agreement over this.”

“Yes we are!” said the kwami as he peeked his head out of the fanny pack. Marinette and Alya said their goodbyes as the former left for her own home. 

Author’s notes :

  * Happiness in the end!
  * Next time I’ll post the short that shows what happened on the apology date and Chai’s reaction to receiving the ‘watch’.
  * I love Nathaniel’s akumatized form in the show! From the primary colors on the chest to the black lines on the white upper part of his body suit, heavily reminiscent of a mime, to the beret, a piece of headwear often associated with France, artists and revolution. Of course, the one thing that it didn’t have was utility, as there was absolutely nowhere to place anything. As a result I decided to add the tailcoat for utility while keeping in line with the style of the champion. I contemplated placing the pocket without the tailcoat, but the idea of putting it slap-bang on the side of the chest sounded silly, especially since he wore a bodysuit. The things I did change on the original design was skin, mask and chest ‘emblem’ color. His mask is soft purple while his skin is normal colored, since having purple skin is one of the details that made him more evil in the show. His emblem also has the secondary colors instead of the primary, mostly because purple is a secondary color.




	29. Chapter XXIX : Laws and regulations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greeting ladies and gentlemen and welcome to a very important chapter! This one will mark a monumental shift in plot.

It was night and Lila was in her room following today’s ‘Bring your parents to work day!’. Her mom didn’t show up at all ( _Just like last time._ ) and the day was mostly normal, except for Ladybug Jester showing up and accidentally stealing a bracelet thingy. She honestly had no idea why he even showed up! Once Lady Monarch, or, more specifically, Seamstress, appeared, he ran away. Not even Chat or her had any time to make an appearance.

Lila looked at her necklace in deep thought, frowning. It had been a few days since she last checked it and noticed a lot of changes had occurred. The necklace was now more orange, to the point where the blue seemed to be the color that was out of place. Another thing that changed was the chain, which turned from grey to gold. Looking at the fox tail itself she noticed that it seemed to fold in a little bit. She put it back on her neck and looked in her mirror.

“Now that I’m thinking about it aren’t foxes supposed to be only orange white and grey Starlow?”

_[I’m not sure, I haven’t seen a fox before— At least I don’t remember seeing one… My memory is not cooperating with me again…]_

“<Snicker> Don’t worry, you’ll remember eventually. Now onto more important matters: Should I really run around at night with this bracelet that Ladybug Jester gave me?” she asked as she spun the object on her finger.

_[I’d say it’s up to you, but from what I understand, you don’t have much of a choice…]_

“Ugh, I know! I just thought you knew of a way for me to sabotage without looking like that’s what I did.”

_[Why would you think I knew how to do that?]_

“I don’t know… Marinette said you’re the ‘tricky type of person’ when you two talked. I thought that that meant you knew how to be as shifty if not shiftier than I was.”

_[…familiar…]_

“What?”

_[That word, ‘tricky’… Nevermind! In my opinion I think you should just go out there and try to attract attention. Lady Monarch has a knack for choosing the most emotionally involved person for turning into a champion!]_

“Oh, ok!” With that Lila transformed into Volpina and jumped out the window.

* * *

Chat was alone doing the night patrol. The reason for this was the fact that he couldn’t make it to the fight earlier today, resulting in Ladybug Jester running away with Sabrina’s bracelet. This was kind of Lady Monarch’s punishment and his guilt made him agree with it. The only good thing about the school day in his opinion was that his father showed up and made a presentation about the creative process behind some of his past fashion collections.

As Chat was patrolling, running on roofs and checking every sector of Paris as Lady Monarch and him divided them, he realized that tonight was going to be pretty calm, the cat hero only having to stop a few muggings. That was until he saw another person running on roofs. _Unless that’s a parkour enthusiast enthusiastically parkouring, that’s Volpina._ Chat began to run in the direction of that person and opened his staff, messaging Lady Monarch that his patrol brought the fruit of success in the form of finding Volpina. With that done all the cat hero had to do was cut off Volpina’s path and try to lead her somewhere with no escape in order to buy time for her partner to bring a champion, which was the hard part.

* * *

Marinette was sitting at her desk in The Garden, working on decoding parts of the tome’s transcript on her own, Nooroo relaxing in the nest of hair he made on top of her head. His tranquil state was disrupted by a message from the Miraculous network, specifically from Plagg. Nooroo flew from his nest and hovered in front of Marinette.

“Marinette?”

“Yeah?”

“You got a message.” Marinette stopped working on translating the passages in the tome, got up from her chair and walked down to her room in order to place it in its new hiding place before coming back up, Nooroo having waited patiently all the while.

“What message?” sh asked

“I don;t know. I just know it was sent and that it came from the cat miraculous.”

“Alright then… Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” The little butterfly kwami entered the brooch, generating the magical energy that attracted all the butterflies in The Garden towards Lady Monarch as it created her suit. They then dispersed to leave some room for her to spin her cane above her head as she pirouetted near the center of her room. With her cane now changed into her miraculous tool, she pressed the button in the center of the room, opening the ceiling blind. Lady monarch opened her cane, allowing the butterfly inside to escape and fly towards the swirling swarm created by its friends and allowing her to view the message from Chat.

“’Look what I found while walking on eggs…’” she read out loud before looking at the relatively clear, if a little shaky, picture of Volpina. Then the meaning of the message hit her and she giggled a bit. _How is he so peppy all the time?_ Shaking her head, she closed her eyes and looked for a fitting champion that was nearby. She really wanted to go herself but going from feeling no pain to the crippling pain in her left leg did no good to her body or her sanity. Luckily for her, there was someone who could help and get something out of it hopefully.

“A man of justice desperate to right a wrong inflicted on his own daughter. Now that is good…” she said as she allowed a butterfly to land on her hand, turning it into a Fay and sending it away with this command: “Fly quickly my beautiful Fay, and give this policeman the power to take back what was stolen!” The Fay did as it was told and made its way towards the person it was told to find, that being Roger Raincomprix, who had switched shifts after what had happened during the day, in the vain hope that he would at least see the villains this night. The universe had other plans however, as he saw the Fay coming from the moment he got out of his police car. At that moment the magical being entered his whistle and the butterfly symbol appeared in front of his face.

_“Greetings, Rogercop! My name is Lady Monarch. From a vigilante to police man, I feel honored to bridge the gap between the two professions! Now, on to the matter at hand, I would have asked you to secure the fox necklace, the object that gives Volpina her power, but recent events made me change my mind. I now ask of you to secure **her**. In exchange, I give the powers and tools necessary to get back your daughter’s bracelet, provided that it is with Volpina of course. What do you say?”_

“I will not disappoint you my lady!” responded Mister Raincomprix, the white-yellow light from his whistle getting so bright that it encompassed his whole body and car, changing them. When the light finally dimmed, Roger cop was standing in front of his enhanced car. The champion was slightly taller than his civilian counterpart, his head to toe covered in a blue metallic armor. His chest, hands and other parts of his armor were black. He wore a rounded helmet with a yellow visor on his head. His shoulder pads had police lights. His whistle hanged around his neck, over the triangle on his chest. His police car was a lot different as, instead of its predominant white, it was now blue with white lines on it. Physically it looked like a combination between an offroader and a super car, with upward pointing wigs that made it look a little like a science fiction vehicle. The wheels really made it look like a science fiction vehicle though, with them being spherical, not cylindrical like normal ones, and appearing to be made out of metal. Rogercop made to open his car door before stopping, turning around and aiming his arm near the nearest building’s wall, from his forearm a gun rising and shooting down the black drone that was watching him.

“Use of private drones in a residential area is strictly prohibited without authorization.” Turning back toward his car he entered it and drove away, first on the mostly empty road, then in the air with the wings now on the side, his GPS leading him to Chat Noir’s location.

* * *

Back with Chat, the hero had managed to kind of corner Volpina on The Eiffel Tower, but not really. The two of them were basically playing cat and mouse, with the roles switching very erratically as they were fighting. Interestingly, Volpina didn’t use any actual clones, resorting only to throwing shurikens, launching firework rockets, sending baseballs and making static illusions of herself. One thing she did do is reveal that she had the bracelet Ladybug Jester accidentally stole. Chat had to admit though, that she seemed to be fighting on automatic. None of his jokes seemed capable of goading her into speaking or even getting slightly frustrated. It was like her heart wasn’t in it or something, which would make sense since the events with Invoclustrator. Deciding to concentrate more, Chat hid from view and acted upon his feline predator senses. Too bad Volpina decided to concomitantly do the same thing, the two of them now continuing with another cat and mouse game that was up close and personal. Chat would attempt to punch and kick Volpina, while she would dodge and eventually land, miss, or get a kick blocked, the cat hero then continuing to attack with punches and kicks, occasionally jumping and launching himself off of the metal beams of the tower, Volpina dodging and then doing something similar to that extent. Eventually the two ran out of steam and began an even slower fight using their respective weapons. By now Volpina had entirely given up on putting on her blue suit disguise since Ladybug Jester or Chai were not here to see her mostly correct colored suit.

The two interrupted their battle when they picked up the sound of a police siren. Looking at one another, Chat and Volpina lowered their weapons and the vixen walked to the edge of the platform the two were standing on to see what was up. A few seconds later they were greeted by the sound of a high speed flying vehicle coming their way as well as the sound of it slowing down.

The moment Rogercop’s car got within a few meters of The Eiffel Tower, it stopped completely, hovering there. The roof of the car opened and Rogercop got up from his driver’s seat.

“Cool car!” said Chat.

“I know, right? It’s like those you see in movies!” replied Volpina. Rogercop stared at the two standing next to each other and looking at him for a second before saying his piece.

“I am Rogercop! Volpina, you are under arrest for kidnapping, grand theft and disturbance of peace. Come quietly or there will be… trouble!” Volpina stood a lot straighter now. She slowly looked towards Chat and saw that he was looking at her as well.

“You’re it!” she said and pushed the cat hero to the ground before running away. Rogercop sat back down and pulled next to the tower, catching Chat by the collar and placing him inside his car as the roof closed up.

“Please put on your seatbelt.” said the champion as he put his own and sent his car moving. Chat did as he was told and put on the seat belt as the flying car followed the vixen. Looking at the situation Chat realized that Volpina, being as tired as she was, still remained in front of the chase. That was until a thought passed his mind and he turned towards Rogercop.

“Hey Roger, how fast are we going?”

“Thirty five kilometers per hour in order to avoid unnecessary collateral damage.”

“What?! Dude, we’re never going to catch up, speed up!” Before the champion could reply the butterfly symbol appeared in front of his face.

_“Rogercop, if you are worried about collateral then simply climb to a higher altitude like you did before.”_ said Lady Monarch, pointing out the obvious solution. What neither the cat hero nor the champion saw was the butterfly hero masaging her forehead with her hand.

“Understood, climbing to higher—“ The champion was once again cut off, this time by Volpina, who, earlier, ran up, turned around and did a spinning jump off of a ventilation fan in order to land on the roof of the car.

“Hi!” said Volpina as she leaned in front of the car’s visor and waved.

“You are obstructing my line of sight.” said the champion in his robotic monotone before pressing the axis fix button and turning his steering wheel left, then all the way right, causing the car to move directly ahead while spinning, Volpina woohooing and holding on to dear life. The champion then abruptly stopped turning, pressed the same button and pulled the wheel while simultaneously alternating between the brake and the accelerator, causing his flying car to fly straight up and turn belly up as he moved in the opposite direction, all to avoid the incoming building that the champion was about to crash into. The funny thing was that all the while Volpina was still holding on to car, so she was now essentially hanging right side up while Chat and Rogercop were upside down. Face tense, the champion pressed the axis fix button twice, turned the car right side up, then activated the autopilot, the car’s AI system’s voice announcing it.

“Going up?” asked Chat, the cat hero already removing his seat belt.

“Affirmative.” replied Rogercop, undoing his own seat belt. They opened both car doors and climbed on the roof of the car, Chat getting his staff ready. Volpina turned around and looked down at the ground, revealing that she didn’t have her weapon with her, before turning around with a placating, almost pleading, expression.

“Hey guys, can we maybe talk about this?”

“Negative. You will be apprehended and the stolen bracelet confiscated. It is your choice whether…” The champion trailed off and turned his head to the left, Chat and Volpina doing the same. There, effortlessly keeping up with the speeding magical vehicle, was a drone, a lot bigger than the one that the champion destroyed. This one had what appeared to be tiny motorized propulsors that were leaving a trail of pink light behind them and its elongated cylindrical body was rounded at both ends, a small pink ‘eye’ looking at them.

“Um, hi! I hope you don’t mind me watching. What am I saying of course you don’t! <Laugh>… Alright, I’m going to give you some space.” The drone slowed down and hid among the buildings.

“So… are we taking a rain check on fight, or—“ Volpina stopped talking as she dodged a bullet that Rogercop fired at her. “Chat… what was that joke you made whenever bullets were involved?”

“PG?”

“Yeah, that’s the one…” Volpina suddenly ran towards Rogercop and kicked his shin in an attempt to make him fall. Unfortunately all she got out of that was hurting her left leg. _As if my right leg being hurt wasn’t bad enough!_ Rogercop attempted to catch the vixen in his hands, but she ducked and the moment his arms parted she did an upside down kick with her left leg, taking extra care to do it while bending her back in order for her hands to touch the roof as she did the full one hundred and eighty degrees to stand back up. With the champion stunned, she was free to dodge Chat’s extending staff that was most likely supposed to push her off, stopping when the car swerved to avoid The Eiffel Tower. Chat got in close and used his staff a bit like a baton in order to minimize the space between them. _Bad move._ Volpina weaved around two of Chat’s swipes and ducked under the third, then she leaned and took a step back, pushing Chat’s forth swipe a little more to the left with her hand, resulting in the cat hero losing his stability for a moment. Chat turned, attempting a two handed swipe this time, but he didn’t get the chance, as Volpina hit him with a right hook, followed by a left hook, another right hook, and then an uppercut that sent him flying into Rogercop. The champion placed Chat down to let him catch his breath before charging at Volpina, causing turbulence due to his weight. Rogercop threw a straight punch at Volpina and she dodged, the vixen proceeding to dodge the left hook, uppercut and the right hook that came her way. The champion then stopped as the butterfly symbol appeared in front of his face. With the champion blocking the way due to his sheer size and his heavy armor protecting him against any damage, Volpina just stood there, trembling due to anticipation and anxiety.

_“Rogercop, fly down, the timer is about to go!”_ Nodding, Rogercop decide to incapacitate the vixen so he could fly down. He threw another straight punch before backhanding Volpina off of the car, sending her down screaming. Looking down Chat, who just got his bearings, saw a flash of light and what appeared to be pajamas.

_“What was that?! You imbecile! Why did you backhand her? Fly down immediately!”_

“Rogercop, I think she detransformed!” said the cat hero. With that revelation Lady Monarch’s stress levels raised. She was just about to issue a command when her miraculous beeped for the eight time. That derailed her whole thought process as she realized her transformation didn’t fall away. Looking down at herself to make sure, she saw that her suit and boots and gloves and magical cane were all still there, her brooch still having two wings present. Regaining her bearings she saw that Rogercop was inside his car, flying towards the road next to The Seine.

_“Rogercop, we still have time. I don’t know how or why, but frankly I don’t care! Go and save Volpina before she dies!”_ Rogercop did as he was told, not wanting to disappoint his lady any further, and flew towards the Seine. However Volpina was already so close to it.

* * *

“I AM GOING TO DIE!!!” shouted the horrified teen.

_[YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE!]_ shouted her adviser in defiance of the situation they were in. Lila felt her necklace heat up, burning bright blue before flickering out, a feeling of partial warmth and coldness encompassed her body. Following that she could felt her suit was back.

_[BRACE YOURSELF!]_ Volpina did just that, making her body like an arrow, just like she learned back home. The moment she hit the water was horrifying, as the Seine’s water was extremely cold this late at night. Volpina made her way out in a frenzy, coughing as she made it to dry land again. Volpina was now tired, freezing and hungry for chocolate, none of the things she thought she would feel tonight, things that now she could put into emotional context due to the corruption that was almost gone. Volpina began to cry, sobbing almost silently. _I don’t want to do this anymore… I want to switch sides… I want to joke with Chat and not fight the cool champions. I **don’t want** to have a stupid scorpion breathing down my back!_

The vixen looked up when she felt a shadow stand over her. Chat was just about to say something when she took the bracelet that was magically affixed to her hip and held it for Rogercop to take it. The champion did and then she jumped backwards into the Seine, losing the two into the frigid waters.

* * *

Knowing that her mother was not home (and won’t be home for a few more days due to work), Lila decided to enter through the front door. She took the extra key from under the rug and opened the door. The house was glowing brown. _Great…_ Lila contemplated going to Marinette’s and trying to lie her way in, but a realization struck her: if she wanted to be free then she needed to say that to Chai’s stupid shadow veiled face thing. Walking to her room she opened the door to the sight of the silhouetted man.

“You did not inform—“

“Get out!”

“…what?” he asked with a very low, very cold voice.

“I said **get out**!”

“I am not leaving this room until—“ Lila cut him off, walking ever so closely with every sentence she said.

“NO! I don’t just want you to get out of my room! I want you to get out my house, get out of this damn building, get out of Paris AND GET OUT OF MY **FUCKING LIFE**!” Now being right next to him, she decked him in the face so hard that he fell to the floor. With that act of defiance, Lila finally undid the vestigial corruption that remained in the miraculous, allowing the being inside freedom. The little kwami flew out of the necklace and gingerly landed on the pair of hands that Lila held up for her, snuggling in them cutely before going to sleep

“W-what?”

“…You will live to regret that.” said Chai with a voice that turned monstrous. Looking up and seeing the scorpion, Lila put the kwami into her pajama’s pants’ pockets and ran away, the monster right on her tail. Managing to get out of the now thrashed house, she punched the fire alarm button and continued running, Chai exciting the building and trailing her.

Author’s notes :

  * This marks the end of the ‘Some fox villain’ arc. Onwards to the ‘Blood red splotches’ arc.
  * It was a bit sudden, but I was aiming for shock! In real life there’s not always (much) buildup.
  * I’m sorry if you guys expected the big moment where Lila would shout her allegiance to the world. She will sort of get it soon!
  * This chapter went through some heavy revision prior to posting it here. It was originally more filler, but then I got the idea of making it a lot more important.
  * Among some of the changes that we will be continuing with into the next arc is Lady Monarch’s upgraded timer. The how and why will be explained in the future, but what I will say is that she now has twelve hole minutes to work with a champion. The meta reason for this is because I can’t really stretch the fight scenes too much without the champion vanishing midway due to the time limit. I did work around this issue with the champions that could control when they are transformed, but I needed a permanent solution.
  * Anyway, just so you know, next week won’t be a chapter (even though you probably want one), but there will be a short that looks into what happened in between Lila escaping and her getting to safety, so it’s kind of like continuing with a chapter.




	30. Chapter XXX : I’m gonna do it. Be prepared! (Part 1)

It had been a week since the incident at the Rossi residence. A police investigation was started and partially dropped, due to the person that had destroyed the apartment not being a person at all, but rather a large scorpion monster (At least according to what the italian teen said). The only thing left to do was scavenge for the objects that were not broken. Among those, the majority were from Lila’s room. This clued her mom in the fact that the attack started in the room. Furthermore, the room’s window had been forced open, indicating that whatever had attacked Lila knew where she lived and had premeditated their actions. In order to not make things confusing (and more difficult for herself), the teen had decided to not mention the fact that she provoked the attack.

Considering the fact that the apartment was trashed and attempting to remove Lila from the Dupain-Cheng residence caused her enormous stress (so much so that she bit someone that was trying to get her out the door and into an ambulance), the teen was allowed to stay and medics were brought in to see how bad she was. These people discovered the cuts, which were thankfully not infected, the bandaged leg, which Lila lied about, saying it was caused by her running away from the thing (Marinette covered for her on that one) and, after being pointed out by the blue haired teen, the weight loss. Thankfully, the excursion only caused Lila to lose about one and a half pounds, which was relatively safe. The muscle strain however, was treated by a lot of sleep, since the bags of ice that covered the strained muscles relaxed her. The muscle recovery and gaining of that pound and a half back was actually quite quick and nobody knew why, except, obviously, for Marinette, who connected Lila’s recovery with the silver and white folded fox tail necklace she wore, the necklace she didn’t allow anyone to touch and ignored all questions regarding it.

Another thing had changed during this week, that being Lila’s appearance. The girl was adamant that she needed a change and Miss Rossi condoned, on the condition that there wasn’t anything too drastic, the future scars being already too much. To help was also Marinette, the girl doing a relatively good job at shortening her hair to be a bit under the shoulders (it was cut completely straight). Besides that the hair bangs were dyed the same blue as Sabine’s hair and the nails were polished with the same color. As for clothes, Lila decided to wear her old red-orange jacket over a black sweatshirt. She also wore a pair of blue shorts, grey wristbands and leg warmers, as well as a pair of ballet flats (they were so comfortable and Marinette had tons). Finally, during the week, the blue haired teen made sure that Lila was not slacking off on school work or her responsibilities as class representative. Lila had actually wanted to give Marinette her old ‘job’ back, but she refused, stating that Lila now had to face the consequences, with a few tips from the pro though.

* * *

Lila and Marinette were walking to school after the week they stayed at home, the Italian girl keeping her eyes sharp, ears peeled, mind focused and arms and legs prepared to run. Even her ‘emotional light’ was like a compressed spring, frightened and ready to jump at anything. _Good. As Volpina, that’s the correct response._ The two made it into the school, the secret fox superhuman relaxing ever so slightly while still keeping vigilant, this time to make sure no one would see the small fox kwami inside her jacket’s pocket. Once inside the classroom Lila bid everyone good morning and tried to not turn beet red from all the compliments on her new style. Even the ‘Champion club’ was pleasant with her, if a little cold. The school day went as normal, except for Adrien, whom Marinette could feel had something on his mind. Once lunch break came the young fashion designer decided to confront the situation in the best way possible: trail Adrien and use her hooked handle cane to pull him back. Once face to face the blonde radiated so much anxiety. She didn’t even get a chance to say anything as he ran away as fast as possible, leaving her alone, facepalming. _Good job me! Now I have to go find him and eavesdrop to find out what’s up with him... Screw it, I’ll ask him later!_

* * *

Adrien was a total mess. Ever since his birthday and the cool clothes he received from Marinette as a gift he had planned to return the favor in kind. The easy part was, obviously, making the clothes, as being the son of a fashion designer had thought him **some** tricks. The hard part was actually giving them to his crush. He was planning to do it the week before but Marinette didn’t show up for school at all and he found out it was because Lila was forced out of her house and that change shook up his mental and emotional preparations and so when she wanted to speak with him, turning him around via her new cane with flames on it, he got scared about the possibility of screwing it up and ran as fast as possible, all the way to the library, more specifically, to the table near the back, where Marinette often studied, read books or played videogames. Alya and Nino had come too. So he was now standing on a chair hugging the packet holding his gift for Marinette, his friends trying to rekindle the flames of his confidence with little success.

“Come on dude, you have to tell her! Otherwise you made those clothes for nothing!” said Nino.

“Aren’t you at least curious how she’ll react?” asked Alya. In response she received a murmur. “What? Didn’t quite catch that?”

“I don’t want to be rejected like Nathaniel…” he murmered more loudly this time.

“Psh, Marinette said she felt bad after that so she clearly didn’t mean it! Besides You’re… Dreamy?” said Alya reluctantly. That made the blond at least raises his eyes from the floor and look around at the rest of place.

“I know, but…” he trailed off as he saw a piece of paper with Marinette’s handwriting stick out between two books. “Since when was that there?” he asked aloud as he walked over and gently pulled it out. Alya and Nino followed suit and the three saw that on the paper was a poem:

Your golden hair shines like the sun!

Your naive eyes are gorgeous green!

I look at you from afar and wonder:

What hides behind that strong disguise?

You make my days so much brighter!

Together our love could be so true, so please,

Will you be my Valentine?

“A Valentine’s day poem? Isn’t spring like ages from now?” asked Nino.

“Why is it here?” asked Adrien.

“…Marinette has a habit of starting things very early…” The blogger took the piece of paper from Adrien’s hand and scanned it very carefully, curious why her bestie would write such a thing.

“Oh my god… Adrien, this is about you!” said Alya suddenly, making Adrien very confused.

“Wha…?”

“Look over here: ‘golden hair’, ‘green eyes’, ‘I look at you from afar…’. This is obviously for someone that Marinette sees regularly, so who does she see regularly that has blond hair and green eyes?” Adrien stared, blinking a few times. “It’s you knucklehead! You’re the only person with blond hair and green eyes Marinette knows!”

“Wow! Adrien, do you know what that means?” asked Nino.

“… I have a chance…”

“You have a chance!” said Alya and Nino simultaneously.

“ **YES**!” shouted Adrien, his voice carrying through the entire library.

* * *

Adrien walked out of the library with his friends, a small piece of paper now placed inside the gift for his crush. He was very thankful that he wasn’t forced out, as he had enough time to come up with a response to that poem as well as have a couple of minutes left for them to grab something to eat. As the three ran out into the courtyard to get out of school and into the nearest spot to get some food, a figure clad in orange jumped above the wall and landed inside the building, Marinette held bridal style, the blue haired girl looking over the shoulder of the person that saved her.

“Duck!” she ordered, and the orange clad superhuman ducked, the two narrowly dodging the yo-yo that came their way. Students and teachers began to flood in the courtyard, watching with a combination of disbelief and fear.

“God damn it! Why can’t you sit still?!” asked the ladybug villain who was sitting on top of the wall. The superhuman let Marinette stand and turned around.

“Why would I? So you could take my miraculous now that I’m actually going to do some good? Screw that noise!” said Volpina.

* * *

Marinette and Lila were coming back to school after having lunch, the young fashion designer being a little grumpy since Alya and Nino were nowhere to be found either. Lila on the other hand was once again focused on making sure nothing could get the jump on her.

“Hey, Lila?”

“Yeah?” asked Lila, looking at Marinette.

“Do you think that Alya and Nino are ignoring me because I’m friends with you now?”

“… I haven’t actually explained myself to them…” said Lila after a while.

“Yes, you haven’t, now answer my question!” said the young fashion designer rudely.

“Probably. We’ll have to—LOOK OUT!” shouted Lila, the teen pushing both of them on the ground and out of the way of a spotted yo-yo. The next thing that happened was everybody on the street panicking and Lila getting slapped **hard**.

“What was that for?!” asked Lila as she got up.

“You could have induced a panic attack you moron!” said Marinette angrily as she got up herself. She was almost hypervantialating. The young fashion designer took Lila’s hand and dragged her to a conveniently nearby alley. “Ok! Now can you transform and go over there to kick his ass?” asked the young fashion designer.

“Transform? Do I even resemble Chat?” asked Lila a bit sarcastically, pointedly playing with one of her blue bangs.

“Nothing can get past me Rossi. Or do you think I never noticed your illogically fast recovery, your new necklace and the thing moving inside your pocket?” at that Lila stiffened, the little fox kwami peeking out of her hidey-hole and meeting Marinette’s frustrated stare with a curious one before flying out of her hidey-hole and resting in the crook of the Italian teens neck, wiggling a little to get comfortable.

“<Snicker> D-don’t do that! It tickles.” said the Italian teen, now with a smile on her face.

“Do what? This?” Trixx wiggled some more and her fluffy fur tickled Lila, making her giggle.

“Trixx.” The little kwami stopped when she felt her head being patted by a finger, tracing it back to Marinette. “How did you know my name? I didn’t know it myself.”

“Later. For now we need the fox villain to start her debut as a hero!” Lila suddenly looked unsure, and Trixx noticed this immediately.

“It’ll be fine! Ladybug Jester is no Chai. You’ll need to add my name to the transformation phrase if you want to change though.” Looking at her kwami then at her friend, who winked, miming closing a zipper on her mouth, she gained some confidence and said the phrase:

“Trixx— Let’s pounce!” The fox kwami entered the necklace. The fox tail unfolded, releasing blue flames that generated the suit, ears, mask and tail as Lila spun on the tip of her toes. Marinette was very surprised by the end result. Instead of a color swapped version of the same suit there were a few minor changes. Her gloves’ and boots’ length were reversed, with shorter gloves that stopped bellow the elbow and boots that covered the legs above the knee, these being dark blue instead of the expected black; the lines going along the arms and tail were gone; speaking of the tail, it no longer was a sash, but rather an orange extension of a dark blue no buckle belt with two white dots on either side; finally her mask was orange and white instead of the expected sole orange; she didn’t have any more lipstick and her hair was dark blue, her bangs colored white.

Not wasting much time with her new look Volpina grabbed Marinette and began to run, the young fashion designer occasionally telling Volpina when to dodge some of Ladybug Jester’s attacks. This kept up until the two arrived back at the school. Once there Volpina let Marinette down and ordered her and everybody else to run back inside and hide.

_[Smart move! You need space to maneuver around this guy, they would have gotten in the way.]_

“There’s also the fact that this place getting attacked will attract the most attention…” muttered Volpina, her eyes fixated on Ladybug Jester as he jumped down from the wall.

“Nice look Volpina! Although, I’ve got to say I like the lighter blue more.” Volpina didn’t say anything, just glaring at him.

“Oh~! Someone’s mad! Although I’m not sure what you’re mad at. The deal was that you’ll keep the miraculous as long as you behave. You broke that deal and now’s time for me to get back master Chai’s property!” said the ladybug villain, prepared to attack. Volpina, in turn, held her hand open and blue flames manifested, moving in two opposite directions and creating an orange flute. The vixen then spun the flute before getting in a battle ready pose.

“Oh yeah?! Then come and take it!” she said.

Ladybug Jester opened with a yo-yo throw, his favorite move (his only move), but sadly, he forgot that with the corruption gone the fox miraculous could now grant its main advantage: **speed**. Volpina spun her flute one handedly, parrying the attack, before she ran, covering the distance between the two, and jumped, bringing the flute down like a bat. That made the ladybug villain bend down, his guard completely open for her to land two more flute strikes to the left and right of his head. His anger boiling over, he threw the yo-yo hard, Vorlpina barely dodging.

_[It’s gonna break the window and hurt the kits! Stop it!]_ ordered Trixx, the vixen turning around to see that her kwami was right. Not wanting to get any more hate than she already had, Volpina stopped the yo-yo from advancing by grabbing the wire. That earned her a kick to the chin from Ladybug Jester, sending her up into the air. Hearing the zip of the yo-yo, the vixen flipped backwards into the air and caught the projectile in between her legs, pulling it from the villain’s hand. Ladybug jester then ran at her and pushed her down, the two getting stuck in and arm lock as he attempted to push her down further so he could take the necklace.

_[Tag out! I have a surefire way of dealing with him! Be warned though, you’ll be sore for some time.]_

_I can live with that, do it!_

Letting her kwami take the wheel, Volpina watched as she rolled backwards and kicked the villain off before getting up, running and turning around, just in time to see what Ladybug Jester summoned with his ‘Lucky charm’.

_A GIANT SWORD?!_

_[Don’t worry! My kits faced enough of those to know what to do.]_

“<Menacing chuckle> Finally! Something useful!” The ladybug villain ran at Volpina and she watched how she did back flips, the timing being just right to avoid the slashes. With some space placed between the two, the flute was summoned once more and thrown ahead, lading on the ground hard enough to impale it, leaving cracks, the super powered teen feeling the strain on her arm just from that. Jumping ahead, she landed on one leg and twirled before back flipping and landing on the flute, dodging another slash at the same time. Doing a front flip off of the flute, she grabbed Ladybug Jester’s head and pulled him up, slamming him into the ground, the villain dropping the sword in surprise.

Before she could take his earrings, she heard a bunch of sirens and looked up to see that R.A.I.D. was here, and they were not interested on who was on what side. Both Volpina and Ladybug Jester jumped on top of the walls in order to dodge the low aim of their weapons. That was unfortunately a bad move, as they now had a clear shot without the risk of hitting innocent bystanders. The two decided to leave, Volpina trailing Ladybug Jester, as she knew his use of ‘Lucky charm’ would result in the temporary loss of powers. Right behind them was R.A.I.D. and off to the side, following as well, was the same blue and pink drone from before, now invisible.

* * *

The school was a bit in chaos as the students there were still arguing about the possibility of Volpina being good. The teachers were doing everything they could, but fired up teens were hard to calm down. Trying to take advantage of this, Marinette sneaked away. Unfortunately she didn’t get far as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around she saw it was Adrien.

“I wanted to give you this.” he whispered, holding out a package. Marinette let her cane hang on her arm as she grabbed the gift with both hands.

“Thanks, but what’s the occasion?” she asked, looking up just in time to see Adrien lean in close and kiss her on the cheek. After that smooth moment he ran away to transform into Chat and not because he was becoming red as a tomato. Marinette didn’t have the same problems however, as she looked at the present and touched her cheek where he kissed her, face mostly red, a genuine smile adorning it.

Author’s notes :

  * This is the beginning of wonderful things!
  * Hope you like Volpina’s new suit! The mask is basically the same as the one worn by Rena Rouge! Besides that there is the belt with no buckle. For that you can search ‘no buckle belt’ on Google images and it should be among the first to pop up.
  * Alya will definitely try to embarrass Marinette by reminding her of this moment. Whether it works or not, we’ll have to see!
  * Next week comes part two! Be prepared for Marinette thinking about having a boyfriend and Volpina working with Chat to get away from R.A.I.D. and (hopefully) catch Ladybug Jester.




	31. Chapter XXXI : Huli Jing! (Part 2)

Marinette and Alya were seating on the desk, as the unanimous decision at the higher level was to keep the students safe until the villains were taken care of. The young fashion had the same smile plastered to her face, her face changing only to glare at anyone who wanted to talk to her and interrupt her happy day dreaming as she stared at the little poem from Adrien.

_Your blue hair is like the night sky!_

_Your bluebell eyes shine like the moon!_

_I see you every day and think about_

_Your thoughts, your dreams…_

_Yes, your Valentine I will be,_

_Our love will be so true!_

_Together for eternity,_

_You and me!_

She had figured that Adrien found Marinette’s attempt at writing a good poem for when Valentine’s Day would come around from the simple fact that it was a response to it. She really liked it, as it confirmed that he’s kind like her in terms of cheesiness, if not slightly more. The gift itself looked pretty nice in the box, but she couldn’t really give it a verdict until she tried it on. She really wished Lila and Chat would be able to speed things along so she could try it on. Another thing she wished for was Adrien returning. She really, **really** wanted to thank him for this.

“Hey, lovebird…! Don’t you think someone is missing?” whispered Alya.

“Are you referring in class or…?” replied Marinette, her mind temporarily shifting gears.

“Or.”

“No. Besides I don’t think that’s possible at the moment.” whispered Marinette, ending the conversation and going back to rereading the poem again. Alya sighed and continued looking at the news updates regarding what was happening. There was now a news helicopter streaming the entire situation.

* * *

Following R.A.I.D.’s interference and subsequent beginning of a chase, Chat appeared, the cat hero staying close by, but not quite tagging along with Volpina since he wasn’t sure if she was actually turned good or just having a quarrel with Ladybug Jester. Speaking of the insect themed villain, he went inside an underground parking lot, Volpina, Chat and R.A.I.D. following for their own reasons. When the people inside the parking lot saw them all rush in, they ran, giving the special police troops the opportunity to throw sleep gas grenades. Ladybug Jester was not perturbed, since his helmet already provided the protection he needed. Chat, thinking quickly, hoped that his staff would work as a gas mask and was rewarded with not falling asleep. Volpina on the other hand had a weak looking gas mask appear with blue flame flare.

_[Thanks Trixx!]_

_[You’re welcome!]_

All three super powered humans were hidden after the gas no longer obstructed anybody’s vision, Volpina and Chat finding out that they had hidden in the same spot.

“So much for keeping my distance…” huffed Chat quietly.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to take your miraculous.” assured the vixen. The two stopped talking immediately as one of the R.A.I.D. officers said they heard something. Their immediate reaction was to move. As Volpina sneaked to another hiding spot with Chat, Trixx decided to give her own two cents on the matter.

_[Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky-snik!]_ said the fox kwami in a sing song voice, her kit making an angry face. After the two arrived at their new hiding spot, Volpina spotted Ladybug Jester doing the same, so, she elbowed Chat lightly and pointed to where was the villain in red. Understanding the message, the two moved as Ladybug Jester moved as well.

_[Sneaky, snickety-snik!]_ came Trixx’s voice inside her head, prompting her to shush the kwami.

“I didn’t say anything.” whispered Chat defensively when the two stopped at another hiding spot, the R.A.I.D. team being baffled by the fact the super humans were not obvious to see despite the fact they, for the most part, wore flashy colors. Volpina and Chat began to once again sneak after Ladybug Jester, the two using the latter as an indicator that the police force was not looking in their direction.

_[Sneaky, sneaky, snickety-snik, sneaky sneaky-snik!]_

“Quiet!” ordered Volpina very loudly, making all the R.A.I.D. officers point their guns towards them. The vixen immediately turned to Chat and said this in the most calm voice ever:

“Not my fault. I’ll explain later.”

* * *

Alya was now looking mostly at Marinette or around the classroom, since Chat, R.A.I.D. and Volpina with Ladybug Jester were underground. Due to this, she immediately saw when Marinette’s happy expression turned into one of concern.

“No. I know what you’re thinking of, stop it!” warned Alya.

“But what if he doesn’t like me? The **real** me.” whispered the young fashion designer.

“Look, Nino and I made sure he knew what he was getting into. We— well **I** — told him that you are a little cold to people, but honestly? You kind of led him on?”

“How did I lead him on?” asked Marinette angrily, having no idea how she could have achieved such a thing.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you said personal stuff about you did the job? By the way, why did you do that? One of the first things you told him was that you used to go jogging, while it took me a year and a half to get that out of you.” That last statement made Marinette cheeks turn a little red, giving Alya the last clue she needed to connect the dots.

“You actually like him!” whispered Alya triumphantly.

“We are not having this conversation!” replied Marinette before asking if she could go to the toilet. She was allowed and so left the classroom. _Leave it to Alya to help me put thing into perspective…_ thought the young fashion designer as she checked every bathroom stall. They were all empty.

“Good.” she said to herself, entering one of the stalls and letting Nooroo out of her fanny pack. “Hey my Cinnamon roll! We need to get a Fay out there and help Lila get R.A.I.D. off her back.” she said.

“How did you know it was Lila, though? She didn’t seem like the one behind it.” asked Nooroo.

“Remember that you told me the miraculouses can protect your identity from stopping people connecting the dots?”

“Yes.”

“Well it doesn’t really work in between miraculous users! Even if I wasn’t sure she was Volpina, I was able to connect some of the dots, mainly the fact that they both shared a similar personality and that they both despised me.” said Marinette, fake cheer in her voice.

“Right… Well would it be suspicious if you stayed too long in the bathroom?” asked Nooroo.

“It would, which is why I’m just gonna send the Fay over and let it do the rest! Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” the butterfly kwami flew into the brooch, the energy flaring forth and creating Lady Monarch’s suit, the hero in question forgoing spinning her cane since there was no room to. She opened the crystal cap and let the white butterfly out of its temporary confinement. The beautiful insect flew for a bit before resting on its mistress’ hand and becoming infused with magical energy. Lady Monarch brought the Fay closer and whispered her command:

“Fly away, my wonderful Fay, and show the world that Volpina is no longer the villain of this story.” The Fay flew out the bathroom window and into the open sky, going towards its target. Lady Monarch turned back into Marinette and went back to class, sittign at her desk again.

“Now you’re ready to discuss it?” asked Alya insistently.

“Later, check the news!” replied Marinette.

“…Why?”

“Check the news!”

“Did you do something?”

“Check the news~!” replied Marinette, this time, elongating every word in the sentence.

“Oh, alright!” Alya gave up and pulled up the latest news, specifically the live news feed of the situation. “What in the…” she said as she looked at the screen, Marinette shuffling closer to see as well.

“How did they get all the way over there?” asked Marinette, the young fashion designer being just as confused as her friend.

* * *

After they were discovered the chase continued, up until they reached the top of the building, Ladybug Jester being the only one to have escaped unnoticed. At the moment, the two superpowered people were standing near the edge of the roof, Volpina behind Chat, R.A.I.D. officers with their weapons ready to fire and the news helicopter above them all.

“Chat Noir, stand down!” said one if the officers.

“Guys, come on! She’s… uh…” the cat hero hit a wall on how to explain the situation, since this was very weird.

“Part of Team Butterfly-cat!” said Volpina.

“’Team Butterfly-cat’?!” asked Chat in a hushed voice.

“Just roll with it!” whispered Volpina.

“YEAH! She’s part of Team Butterfly-cat now!” said Chat with fake enthusiastically.

“Maybe, but this isn’t some story where villains can become good guys just because they learned their lesson, or other stuff along those lines. Volpina’s actions are that of a terrorist and we’re the ones who take care of ‘em!”

“She was mind controlled!” insisted Chat.

“Actually that was only one time! The rest of the time I was forced to do stuff under threat of death.” supplied Volpina. This declaration made the officers visibly relax, as the situation was a little more difficult with that information on the table. Volpina and Chat’s ears twitched when they hear a ‘zip’ sound and the former pushed the latter to the ground as a string wrapped around her waist. Wasting no time, Volpina suddenly turned all the way towards Ladybug jester, pulling a little on the string, causing him to not be able to pull her up like he had planned, and then swung it around, basically launching him face first on the roof. The string lost tension and pulled itself back into the yo-yo which landed at the feet of the fox. She grabbed it and held her other hand for Chat to grab.

“You know I had heard it too, right?” he asked.

“Sure, but it was either I pushed you or you pushed me and I don’t feel like falling off a building a second time.” replied the vixen. The two of them were pretty chill at the moment, and for good reason: R.A.I.D. was currently focused on Ladybug Jester, who was slowly getting up from the cracked surface he was on.

“Ugh… So fast…” he mumbled as he got up. He immediately stiffened when he realized where he was. In front of him stood R.A.I.D. and behind him were the ‘heroes’.

“My, my, how the tables have turned.” said Volpina in a sweet voice.

“Isn’t she just as guilty as I am?!” asked the ladybug villain angrily.

“No, but she’s still going to come with us along with you!”

“Wha— but I—“ came Volpina’s unbelieving response. She cut herself off however as a Fay landed on the yo-yo. The light from it flared forth and changed her. When it disappeared, in her place stood a figure clad in white. Her costume was completely white, except for the boots and fingers of her gloves, which were dark red. Instead of her normal tail, she had nine red tipped tails, all looking very puffy and real as they constantly moved. Her mask was different too; this one covered most of her upper face and had a muzzle, as well as a pair of static ears, that replaced the old ones. Her hair was completely white now, but the blue bangs were still there, if a little lighter.

“Well… Do you really feel like taking on a champion?” asked Chat, the hero wiggling his eyebrows.

“My lady’s not watching… Means this…” she trailed off as she gestured to herself and walked closer to R.A.I.D. and Ladybug Jester. “…Is just to make a point…” She smiled as she summoned her now white flute and began to play. From the other end came some light fog that covered the entire roof and from it raised a bunch of white figures, all looking like the past champions.

“Fuck this shit, I’m out!” said Ladybug Jester urgently. The next thing that happened was him jumping and landing so hard that he managed to break through the roof. R.A.I.D. and the figures rushed through the hole and everything seemed to be in vain. The villain was still able to be heard, so the figures and R.A.I.D. went after him, the officers shooting while the ghostly champions ran through the bullets as they followed Ladybug Jester. The first one to make it, Timebender, stopped right in front of him and shouted ‘BOO!’ in Huli Jing’s voice. The villain screamed and, without being able to stop, plowed through, the ghostly champion reforming herself and continuing the chase. All the other champions did the same thing, their attempts slowing down the villain, but, unfortunately, he still managed to escape and hide somewhere. The yo-yo that served as the champion’s Fay object disappeared and with it gone the Fay had nowhere to stay. In a flash of light Volpina was back while the fog and white figures faded away. Chat kind of just stood there with no idea what to say until Volpina broke the ice.

“That’s the end of that then! We’ll catch him some other time! Bye-bye!”

“Wait! You still haven’t explained what happened earlier!” replied Chat, the vixen’s sudden goodbye snapping him out of his daze. By now Volpina was already on the edge. She turned around and smiled at him.

“Long story short…” she started, placing a foot off the edge. “…I have a voice in my head!” she finished as she let herself drop.

Author’s notes :

  * Finished! For those who figured out what the title was exactly, good job!
  * Now with that out of the way, I’m finally going to give proper focus to Ladybug Jester! I kind of like him, although he’ll probably end up being another funny character. XD
  * Next time we get back to school, but for a whole different reason. Instead of a just fight taking place there we’ll have… a fight taking place there while filmed by an amateur film director!




	32. Chapter XXXII : Theatrics

Marinette was admiring herself in the mirror, something she rarely did nowadays. The reason she was doing it now was obvious: she was looking at herself with the new outfit from Adrien, and she really liked it. The ensemble was simple and fitting for her, even if a little more colorful than she’d like. She wore a dark blue blazer with bright red inner lining and a pair of pockets near the bottom that happened to be big enough so Nooroo would fit comfortably in either one; under the blazer she wore a simple white shirt with a pocket and a lack of a top button, allowing her to use her brooch as one; on her legs she wore a pair of black jeans that were slightly baggy, but she didn’t complain since she liked clothes that would help with her movement. Finally, there was copper belt that came with the jeans, this belt being obviously done by Agreste and not Adrien, the difference in craftsmanship giving it away.

“You sure you don’t want to come?” Marinette asked Lila after some time.

“No thanks. I don’t have a good feeling about today…” replied Lila.

“You know if you want to get the class to like you more, you should be more socially active.” The Italian teen had a very good comeback, but decided to keep it to herself.

“I know… Have fun with the others!” said Lila and Marinette decided to leave the conversation at that for the time being. _I’ll have my way eventually._ she thought to herself as she left to get to school.

* * *

Inside the school Marinette and most of her classmates were shooting a ‘scary’ movie for a contest (Nino’s idea). Adrien and Mylene were acting as the protagonists of this film, but there was a problem: Mylene couldn’t stay in character, constantly getting scared by the ‘monster’.

“Cut!” said Nino, after another failed attempt at shooting the scene.

“Sorry Mylene!” said Ivan as he took off his monster mask.

“Mylene! That’s like, the tenth take and we’re only one the first scene!”

“Actually, this is the fourteenth take. The speed at which we are constantly starting over does cause some confusion with the number of takes.” supplied Max while changing the number for the next take. Nino sighed.

“Mylene, we have to get a move on! We only have a few hours until we have to finish the scenes here—”

“If we keep this up we’ll only have the school open for nine hours, twelve minutes and… twelve seconds for shooting the scenes here!” added Alix as she closed her pocket watch. Everyone kind of stopped doing anything for a second and just stared until Alya broke the ice again. 

“…Anyway… We also have to shoot at Adrien’s and the Louvre! Thanks for that, by the way, Alix!” said the blogger getting a thumbs up in return.

“I’m sorry. I’m gonna do better on the next take, I promise.” reassured Mylene.

“Anyone want some tea?” asked Rose.

“You’re playing a hero from the special forces, you’re not supposed to get scared like that! Also Ivan, you’re playing the monster, you need to put the mask back on.” finished Nino.

“Hold on! Maybe we could try to shoot another scene, one without the monster, this way Mylene could get into character and be able to shoot this scene later!” offered Adrien.

“That’s a perfect idea Adrien! Sometimes, actually most of the time, scenes are shot out of order for the sake of convenience!” said Marinette, taking a look at the other scenes on Alya’s script, stopping when she noticed a certain scene.

“YOU WROTE A KISS SCENE?!” shouted Marinette furiously.

“WHAT?!” Alya came close to Marinette, reading over the page in the script. “I didn’t write that!” said Alya after reading it over.

“Well somebody did!” said Marinette, seething.

“Yeah! I did... I made that adjustment to move the story along.” said Nino.

“But it doesn’t make any sense! Agent Smith is a lone wolf on the hunt for the monster that destroyed her family while Officer Jones is just a police man that got caught up in the conflict. These two have no previous history and no romantic feelings for each other, so the love aspect is forced.” said Sabrina, who was in charge of writing the characters.

“Doesn’t it also feel a bit cliché? Two heroes falling in love, I mean.” asked Marinette.

“Ok then fine! What else could we do to make that scene smoother?” asked Nino.

“We don’t do anything! The scene was fine the way it was Nino.” said Alya.

“Plus this is Adrien that has to do it. Weren’t you in cahoots with Alya to get me together with him?”

“Guys come on! How about we calm down!” said Adrien, making Marinette turn to him.

“You seem rather calm considering that you’re the one that’s doing the kissing while we’re... a thing.” she said in a relatively calm tone as she walked over to him, throwing the script over her shoulder for Alya to catch.

“I’m not— I know I shouldn’t— Wait, ‘a thing’?” asked Adrien, chuckling.

“…I don’t know… <sigh> this is completely new to me, ok?” replied Marinette as she leaned her head on him.

“Juice? “ asked Rose, offering the producer and actors four glasses of juice, the four taking them.

* * *

Outside the school, on the roof two voices were in disagreement, arguing with each other.

“Master Chai, I know that you are angry but I can’t just waltz in there and take her miraculous! That will surely put my daughter in danger.”

“Yes you can, and you will! I gave you those magic earrings and I can easily take them away! I will not have a repeat of Volpina! You will answer to me! Also you are the hero of this story: your daughter’s safety pales in comparison to the mission of retrieving earth’s most important magical artifacts from the clutches of irresponsible, **selfish** teenagers!”

“I-I know, but…”

Tikki was watching the ridiculously dramatic scene unfold before her. She heard a snicker next to her before a bag of caramels was thrown her way.

“Have some for the waiting!” said a tiny scorpion kwami to Tikki, making her sigh.

“Thanks, Stingg...” said Tikki in response, although she wasn’t really thankful.

Eventually the bickering stopped and Mr. Kubdel transformed, spinning like a top as the magic encompassed his body. He took note of his new look: His suit’s red and black color scheme was now completely reversed, with black being the main color. The plates of his armor were void of any spots, and the ones that were on his under suit were a darker shade of red. Ladybug Jester decided to ignore the change and grabbed his yo-yo, seeing that it was now black with the same dark red dots that covered the under suit. He used it to get to the door of the class he knew the teens were in, a girl and boy leaving the class as he landed. He stiffened, noticing all the teenagers looking straight at him, one of them holding a phone in front of his face. Realizing what was happening, he decided to play along.

“Hello there, foolish children!” he greeted as he dropped down from the railing and made his way inside the classroom. He pulled out his yo-yo and started spinning it, making a few tricks with them, a certain red head ducking under a desk.

“You shouldn’t be out here at this time! Haven’t you heard?” he asked as he spun the yo-yo around the room, making everyone duck so they wouldn’t get hit in the head. “There are bad people running about! Hihihihahahahihihi!” he laughed maniacally, pouncing at Nino. He got hit in the head instead, not by a cane but by an umbrella, its owner giving a triumphant ‘Ha!’

“Wow! Who are you? And why are you wearing so much black?” asked Marinette, playing along with the charade of not knowing that Alix was the time travel hero. Drawing closer to her, she took in the suit: she was wearing a tightly fitting bodysuit with black gloves, black boots, white torso and everything else colored in a light blue, on her back having a small bunny tail and on her head a pair of bunny ears.

“Uh… Bunnix! I’m the time travel hero of the team!” replied Bunnix, realizing the stupidity of revealing that information for everyone else there. “Now if you don’t mind I think you should leave! Go on!” she continued, pushing everyone to the exit as Ladybug Jester came to his senses. The students heard a distant cry of ‘Burrow!’ as they ran away, Adrien helping Marinette get away faster, the two moving away from the crowd.

“Why did we separate?” asked Marinette, unaware of Adrien’s need to transform and trying to cover her own tracks.

“Oh! I didn’t notice that we separated. We must find the others!”

“Actually it would be better if we hid in separate places. It would be harder for Ladybug Jester to find us that way!” replied Marinette, hoping that she could find a place to turn into Lady Monarch.

“Ok! Stay safe my princess!” said Adrien, kissing her hand before leaving a slightly blushing Marinette behind to hide himself. Once a suitable place was found Marinette let Nooroo out of her blazer.

“That was quite interesting! Most miraculous users get a modified suit when they are older. I have never seen an adult user having a changed appearance.”

“We can think about that later. Now’s time to transform! Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” Marinette turned to Lady Monarch, the magic energy coming from her brooch and encompassing her, the butterfly hero twirling her cane around as it changed into her magical one before leaning on it. Looking for a good champion, she made up her mind when a certain idea came to her.

“The inability to face your fears is quite frustrating, but there’s always hope that you will conquer them!” she said as she made her Fay. “Fly away my little Fay, and give the scared actress the power to live out her role!”

* * *

The Fay did as it was told and went for the future champion, Mylene. When it appeared everyone else looked at it with hope all of them thinking that Ironheart will make another appearance. Instead the Fay landed on the pin she had been given to by Ivan, the butterfly symbol appearing in front of her face.

_“Greetings Ace hunter! I can give you the power to protect your friends from harm, being the hero of the complex cinematic masterpiece called life! All I ask in return is for you to get the ladybug earrings and return them to me. What do you say; will you play your role today?”_

“Yes, I will my lady!” responded Mylene after a bit of thought. She sat up bravely, the white-yellow light changing her into Ace hunter, a girl slightly taller than Mylene due to her thick soled army boots. She was dressed in black pants, a shirt and gloves with a blue vest, on her back sitting a silver canister, a hose connecting it to a gun that was holstered on her utility belt. On her face she wore triangular glasses, the pin sticking to them, and her hair was let down.

“I will keep you safe my friends! I will also hunt down the earrings you asked for my lady! You have Ace hunter’s promise!” she said dramatically before running towards the fight. Seeing a chance to make an even better movie, Nino got up to follow, causing everyone to get up and follow him.

* * *

Adrien hid away in a separate location, a few feet from the place the two teens separated, letting his kwami come out of his shirt.

“You know maybe you should have escorted you beautiful ‘princess’ to a safe location before running away.” said Plagg sarcastically, snickering a bit. Adrien taking it seriously, replied with:

“You think so? Maybe I should have done that…” This caused Plagg to laugh loudly, clueing in the naïve blond on the fact that he was joking. “That’s not funny Plagg! Marinette could have captured by that guy since I left her out in the open.”

“We’re talking about the girl who can defend herself with a wooden staff!”

“Cane.” corrected Adrien.

“Same difference. I think we should get down to business though, we don’t want Lady Monarch’s champion to make it to the fight first, right?”

“Right. Plagg! Claws out!” Adrien held his ring hand out, the kwami getting sucked in the miraculous, the magical energy coming from the ring and making his mask appear, then his suit and ears and finally his tail, Chat Noir sitting in place of Adrien. With the transformation complete the cat hero went to look for Ladybug Jester.

* * *

Lila was helping Marinette’s parents down in the bakery, since the girl didn’t have much to do. Since she didn’t have any knowledge of handling cooking equipment beyond making sandwiches, salads and fried food, she handled counter duty, using her natural charisma to get customers to buy a few sweet confectionaries besides their usual purchases. It was while convincing a customer of the instant feeling of happiness from eating a chocolate chip cookie that her little kwami, Trixx, created an illusion of another customer.

“Excuse but I’d like to buy something too!” said the illusionary black haired woman. The man suddenly realized that he was running late and hurriedly bought some cookies along with the birthday cake he was redeeming. Once the man was gone the illusionary woman giggled.

“Humans are so funny sometimes!” she whispered to herself. Lila, feeling a bit confused, decided to ask:

“Is there anything you would like ma’am? Any purchase above forty euro’s comes with a free box of ten macaroons~!” she said, quickly going back to her charismatic sales person persona. The lady leaned close and Lila couldn’t help but find the mischievous spark in her eyes familiar.

“Check your jacket’s pocket.” she whispered before puffing up in smoke. The teenage girl looked down and noticed her kwami sticking out of her pocket.

“Miss Cheng, I think I’m going to turn in for now! Is that ok?”

“Sure Lila, I can take it from here. Also it’s ok to call me Sabine.” responded Marinette’s mom as she took Lila’s place at the counter. The Italian teenage walked upstairs to Marinette’s room and sat down on the edge of the chaise lounge, turned away from the trapdoor of course.

“You can make illusions?” asked Lila.

“Of course kit! Your magical powers are actually derived from my unique abilities, though they are just a fragment.”

“Cool… What did you want to talk about?” asked Lila, giddy to find out whatever thing her kwami wanted to share with her.

“There’s a big concentration of magic at your, uh… school? Plagg, Nooroo and Tikki all seem to be active. You know what that means~!”

“I do.” replied Lila, getting serious.

“Trouble’s-a-brewing!” said the fox kwami a bit too enthusiastically.

“It sure is. Trixx. Let’s pounce!” said Lila. Trixx entered the necklace and the tail regained its orange color as it unfolded. From it the energy flared and Lila felt like floating as her suit was created by blue flames. With fluid hand movements she then made her mask and ears appear before finishing with the creation of the tail. With the suit complete, Volpina opened the window and got out, closing it behind her. After that she jumped away and made it to the school with her superior speed.

* * *

“Show’s over Ladybug Jester! Your villain days are over, for I am here!” said Chat Noir, making a grand entrance, attempting to hit Ladybug Jester from above.

“Ho-ho! Big words coming from you boy! Wouldn’t it be easier for you to give up your miraculous than fight? My master plans to go for the long run. He won’t give up till the ancient magical jewels are his!” said Ladybug Jester, counter attacking with his yo-yo, the weapon, with its longer range, making it hard for Chat to get close and get the earrings or even attack. Good thing he didn’t have to though! Volpina came from above and landed on the villain’s shoulders, grabbing at the earrings. Ladybug Jester grabbed at her hands and threw her over his head. The villain felt the energy that made up his suit becoming unstable and breaking down, his suit starting to fade. This prompted him to look towards the vixen hero, noticing her playing with the one earring she managed to snag, a smirk on her face. The villain used his yo-yo to grab her waist, pulling suddenly and bringing her close to him, twirling around as she got close, grabbing the earring midair and throwing her behind him.

“Ouch… Now I know how you felt when I threw you into walls Kitty!” she groaned.

_I thought I was faster than this guy!_ she mentally spoke to Trixx.

_[You are, but you can still get distracted or taken off guard.]_ replied her kwami matter-of-factly.

Chat ran at him to attack, Ladybug Jester jumping up into the air to avoid him, earning a goo shot to the face. The villain shouted in alarm, throwing his yo-yo in a random direction and managing pull himself onto the railing. He pulled his helmet off and threw it away, revealing a black domino mask with dark red dots on it. The villain, now able to see again, dodged the following goo shots coming from the newcomer.

“Need a hand you two?” asked the champion.

“Yeah!”/”You betcha!” responded Volpina and Chat at the same time.

“I’m Ace hunter, by the way! Try to trap him in the goo!” she said, resuming her shooting, Chat going after Ladybug Jester while Volpina stood there and summoned her flute, beginning to play as she thought of a good illusion to make. She settled on making walls appear.

“Mirage!” she said before beginning to make walls, the illusions sprouting out of the ground so quickly that it made Ladybug Jester act on instinct and dodge them.

“Lucky charm!” Ladybug Jester activated his special power, getting a pepper spray in return. “Oh! Son of a gun!” he cursed, having no idea how to use the thing in a way that would actually help him get the miraculouses. It wasn’t like the champion and two heroes would just stand still to get pepper sprayed in the face. In his distracted state, he did no notice the fact that he became stuck in goo, Chat also taking the chance he had with the villain distracted and coming up behind him, placing the staff in front of him and restricting his movement.

“He’s all yours ladies! Do you wanna draw lots and see which one of you gets to do the honors?”

“I will do it! I promised my lady that I would retrieve the miraculous.” said Ace hunter as she approached the villain. Scarred of losing his miraculous Ladybug Jester held the pepper spray in front of him and sprayed, not hurting the champion due to her wearing sunglasses, but startling her and obstructing her vision, making Chat loosen his grip. Ladybug Jester made Chat let go of him and he dropped the pepper spray, summoning ‘Miraculous ladybug’ to get his helmet back, inadvertently cleaning up the mess in the school as well as releasing his legs from their sticky purple prison, allowing him to escape. The two heroes and champion turned to see their classmates cheer them, Nino pointing his phone at them.

Chat gave a bow to the crowd before slipping away. Volpina twirled her flute in one hand before jumping away, mindful of her timer. Finally Ace hunter winked at the camera before bursting into light and turning back into Mylene, the now white butterfly leaving for who knows where. All the teens rushed at Mylene, praising her for the courage she showed in accepting to be a champion, Nino being the happiest since he got it all recorded. The rest of the crowd was joined by Marinette, Adrien and Lila, the former two looking at Mylene with happy smiles before holding hands, Marinette leaning on him, happy that he didn’t get hurt in all this, the boy returning it by leaning a bit on her, happy about the same reason.

* * *

“Well, Mister Mayor? What do you think? Off the hook, right?“ asked Nino after the 'movie' was over.

* * *

“We made the cut! He said that the change to Ladybug Jester’s outfit was inspired!” said Nino.

“Now all we have to do is wait and see what prize you get!” responded Adrien.

Author’s notes :

  * Volpina is an official hero now! Don’t worry though, she will not participate in every fight, just like the Chat Noir/champion combination won’t always be in the same fights. The reason for this is because a three on one fight kind of ends too quickly, no matter how skilled the villain may be.
  * Another reason I spun the story of this chapter like this was so you guys would understand how Volpina’s fighting style changed. She can no longer make as many illusions as she wants so she must go in the fight herself and make illusions later, the same to how Alya’s Rena Rouge powers work.
  * I also decided to use Lila’s charisma and manipulation abilities in a way that could be considered **kind of** good. She’ll still lie (since she’s a pathological liar) but she won’t use these ‘abilities’ of hers to bring harm to others or make herself look good. Another thing I decided to have her do is blow things out of proportions (exaggerate).




	33. Chapter XXXIII : Knights and dragons

“Don’t you have enough security measures already?” asked Nooroo, the little kwami floating around Marinette along with some curious butterfly residents of The Garden as she worked on some wooden box.

“Nope! If my diary somehow gets displaced and somebody figures out what I wrote then I’m done for! I’ve got miraculous data on this thing!” responded Marinette, going back to work on the box. After securing a screw in place she stood back, admiring her work: the box looked a bit like a pirate treasure chest, with the hinges on the interior, a much better choice for keeping grabby hands in, if they opted to steal it that is.

“This is my magic treasure chest!” proclaimed Marinette, putting her diary inside. “Wanna try it out?”

“N-not really, I don’t feel too safe trying.”

“That’s ok my little cinnamon roll! Here I’ll do it myself and show you that it’s not harmful.” to prove her point she placed her hand inside, the treasure chest locking her it in. She opened it up again and then left it on the desk, knowing that her diray was safe, getting up and putting her gifted blazer on a black turtle neck sweater, ready to go out since her little project was done. Nooroo zipped into the interior pocket of the blazer and snuggled inside, relaxing in the warm hiding place. The young fashion designer headed down and wished Lila luck with clients today, since she didn’t want her friend to tag along today considering what she was going to do.

* * *

“The mayor of Paris has been chosen and it’s Andre Bourgeois once again, winning by a landslide majority! One of his opponents, Armand D’Argencourt, the fencing instructor at Francoise Dupont High School, had lost to him by a ‘landslide minority’, as the public calls it!” Marinette grimaced at the news on her phone, knowing how hard Mister D’Argencourt fell after a loss. _It’s a good thing that I’m heading his way now_. she thought to herself. She limped to school, entering it and seeing the man working with a student of his, or at least trying to, Nadja harassing him with some questions about him and the elections. _Is she even allowed in here?_ she asked herself, getting her answer in the form of Mister Haprele shooing them out.

“Here endeth the lesson!” Mister D’Argencourt said before attempting to leave, a few rhythmic cane taps drawing his attention. He turned and the calm mask covering his anger practically flew away, a big smile forming on his lips.

“Ah, bonjour! How art thee Miss Dupain-Cheng?”

“Marinette?! Hi!” Adrien drew close to the fencing instructor and removed his helmet, smiling warmly towards her. She gave her own warm smile in return before turning back to the older man.

“I came to see my former mentor! I heard the news by the way… Maybe you’ll have better luck next time?” she said, making the older man sigh.

“No I won’t… I am doomed to repeating the same misfortune my ancestor went through: be a glorious and honorable man that wins against the most frightening of dangers and looses to the most trivial of struggles.” He looked down at the Marinette with a sad face before regaining his composure. “Considering that you and Mister Agreste know each other, I will leave you to talk. Just remember to not gossip!” he said, parting ways with his student and former student. Adrien sneaked behind the girl and draped his hands over her, nuzzling her hair and making her giggle.

“Did you call Mister D’argencourt your mentor?” asked Adrien

“’former mentor’… I stopped going to his fencing classes.” she responded, Adrien picking up a nostalgic undercurrent in her voice.

“Leg?” he prodded, hoping he didn’t overstep some boundaries.

“Leg… It’s not like I am unable to fight though! I’m just bad at my sta—“

“PART LE FER! Stay away you treacherous red spotted menace! You will not get your malicious hands on my family heirloom!” The two teens looked in front of them, seeing Armand masterfully deflecting Ladybug Jester yo-yo, the villain having the upper hand however as he pushed the swordsman back with each attack. _Seriously?! What is it with Ladybug Jester and this school?_ Marinette asked herself as she started pushing Adrien back, the two teens hiding in the locker room, separating.

* * *

“What the heck is that crazy villain doing, trying to steal from my fencing teacher?” whispered Adrien.

“Steal? Not take hostages or other stuff like that?” asked Plagg, confused.

“Nope, steal! Don’t worry, I’m going to find out what he wants lickety-split! Plagg! Claws out! Adrien held out his hand, the kwami getting sucked into the ring and facilitating his transformation, making his mask appear, then his suit, ears and tail. Chat immediately jumped into action, joining the fight.

* * *

“It seems Ladybug Jester is targeting family heirlooms now!” whispered Marinette.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t decide to go after yours.” responded Nooroo jokingly.

“If he does then he has another thing coming! Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” Marinette transformed into Lady Monarch, twirling her normal cane and turning it into her magical one before leaning on it. She turned her attention to one of the people she felt before, noticing the determination blazing through the swordsman, smiling as she made her Fay.

“Being old fashioned doesn’t mean being out of date, especially not for this old determined soul! Fly away my little Fay, and give this knight the power to win against this frightening danger!” Her Fay did as it was told and found Armand quickly, the man seeing the magical butterfly approach and letting it rest on his saber.

_“Greetings, Darkblade! I am Lady Monarch! I have sent my Fay to you in order to defeat this wicked fighter and retrieve the Ladybug miraculous! Do you wish to do this service?”_

“Absolutely my lady! I shall not rest until this evil warrior is defeated or thee needeth not my help any longer!” said Armand, the white-yellow light enveloping his body and turning him into Darkblade, a tall knight with dark grey shinny armor, a red and black family crest of a dragon sitting in the center of his chest and in his hand holding a magnificent sword. The knight charged into battle, ready to help his cat confidant. Ladybug Jester anticipated this and jumped on the roof of the school. Chat Noir made to jump after him, but Darkblade put his free hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

“My lady advises caution to us mine feline friend! We shall asketh the enemy for the reason of his arrival! Mine own name is Darkblade. Excuse me for not introducing myself from the very beginning!”

“Oh, ok! You don’t really need to apologize Darkblade!” responded Chat before turning his gaze back to the villain. “What do you want from this guy?” he asked pointing to the champion.

“Oh, nothing much, the only thing I need is the jewel he keeps around his neck, I believe he calls it the ‘Dragon egg’—“

“You shall never take mine Dragon’s egg you emissary of evil! PART LE FER, my soldiers!” he said, pointing his sword to the sky and sending out a green energy field. Ladybug Jester and Chat both felt a tickling sensation going through them as the energy passed them. Seeing as nothing seemed to have happened, the villain was about to make his move when he heard other shouts of ‘PART LE FER!’ coming from outside the school grounds. He turned around and saw a bunch of green knights coming his way, climbing a tower made by some of them sitting on top of each other to scale the walls of the school. He yo-yoed and kicked most of them away, but he soon saw one of them that was different… And coming his way fast! Ladybug Jester dodged out of the way of a large blue knight wielding a mace, and ended up getting batted to the ground by Chat Noir. The hero and champion came his way, Darkblade deflecting the villain’s yo-yo way from him and the cat, leaving him open. After some purple knights positioned themselves on the roof of the school they began to rain arrows upon the villain, who was desperately trying to give himself some room to attack. Seeing no other alternative Ladybug Jester summoned his ‘Lucky Charm’, receiving a sword in return, one that had the same shape as that of the champion. He pointed it at Darkblade, knowing exactly what to do.

“You call this an honorable fight you cowards! If you two really think you can defeat me then fight me with your own strength and leave these toy knights to watch!” he said, doing his best to keep the arrows at bay by spinning his yo-yo like a shield.

“Oh come on you clown, you really think that—“

“Halt! The villain is right: there is no honor in overwhelming one enemy with many allies! We are the only ones that are required Chat! Let us duel!” The butterfly symbol appeared over his face, stopping him from speaking any further.

_“I do not like where this is going Darkblade! I have a feeling he has something up his sleeve…”_ And Ladybug Jester did, laughing maniacally as he pulled out a turtle bracelet, making Lady Monarch order in alarm for Darkblade to get that as well. The villain stuck the blade into the ground and placed the bracelet on his wrist turning on its active state. Ladybug Jester picked up his sword and touched it against the bracelet, a green light enveloping him, then dimming down to reveal his new appearance. His arm and leg guards, his chest, as well as his helmet were a combination of turtle green and metallic red, the helmet having stubby horns. On his left arm he had a shield, which he held in front of him, ready for battle. Chat look horrified at the villain, his gaze moving to Darkblade, who held up his sword.

“I was proven wrong it seems! There is no honor when fighting a wretched man such as yourself! Archers, prepare to fire if we lose, do not let this villain escape!” The archers prepared their bows and stood still, waiting. The ground forces made a circle around them, resting their swords in front of themselves. Ladybug Jester made the first move, throwing his yo-yo at the younger hero, who easily batted it out of the way and extended his staff, hitting the shield of the villain. Darkblade made his move after that, jumping in the air and hitting the enemy from behind, getting the same result as Chat had gotten, the cat hero having his following attack bounced off the spinning yo-yo, vibrations going through him as he tried to recover. The villain then threw the yo-yo at Darkblade, wrapping its wire around the blade and pulling, making the knight drop it. The villain caught it and parried Chat’s next attack with it before delivering a strong kick to his stomach, effectively sending him flying above and out of the circle.

“You’re out! You have to stay there and watch me win now! Hihihihahahahaaaa!” Ladybug Jester’s shoulder was tapped and he turned around, wining a straight punch in the face for his troubles and dropping the sword, Darkblade picking it back up with his left hand and moving it to his right. He followed with a low lunge and then an upward slash, his sheer strength ripping away the shield from his enemy’s arm and launching it out of the circle. Now Ladybug Jester was back to square one, ineffectively attacking with his yo-yo. The only difference was that Darkblade didn’t have the same patience as before, shown by him stopping from parrying and catching the villain’s weapon, pulling him by the thread before punching him in the face for a second time, breaking the helmet, and revealing half of his masked face.. He placed his foot on the enemy’s chest and held the sword to his head as he took off the bracelet to the happy cheering of Chat. The champion threw the bracelet to him, neither of them noticing the second ‘Lucky charm’ Ladybug Jester made. Darkblade looked down just in time for the villain to throw him the WWII smoke grenade, which exploded and gave the villain easy access for escaping with the sword. He exited the smoke cloud just as it started to clear, smirking at the heroes as they coughed and then looked up, seeing him as he broke the sword in two and trapped the white butterfly that flew out into his yo-yo, running away after that.

Chat stared after the villain, making to follow him but collapsing due to exhaustion and pain, his world tuning black. He later woke up to the sight of Marinette, the girl standing over him with a worried expression.

“Hey princess…” he said, his voice weak as he struggled to sit up.

“You should rest for now. You were hit pretty badly.” She moved away, no longer obscuring his vision and allowing him to see that he was in her room. The news played on the computer about the fight between him, Darkblade and the villain. Apparently after the sword was destroyed everyone turned back to how they were, leaving a lot of people injured as they fell from the human tower. He didn’t pay too much attention to it though, turning to the girl that was facing away from him and was talking on the phone, clearly trying to end the discussion quicker so she could get back to attending to him. He gave a dry chuckle, unheard by her.

* * *

A few minutes later, after Marinette finally managed to end the call with Alya, she got a message from Adrien saying that he was alright and heading home. He had received a bad hit from the villain, telling her that he fought as one of the knights. She was very happy to hear from him and she turned to Chat to tell him that he could leave after she made sure he was alright, only to see that he was gone, her room’s window being open. She sighed in frustration at the recklessness and complete disregard for his safety and well being before sitting on her now empty chaise, thinking about what just happened, contemplating the fact that her hunch about that ‘Dragon’s egg’ was correct. A soft smile graced her face as she felt the comforting weight of two kwamis on her shoulder, a certain green bracelet sitting on her wrist.

Author’s notes :

  * I! LOVED! WRITING! THIS! FIGHT! I loved writing every second of it! I hope it was just as entertaining to read.
  * I also find Darkblade to be my favorite champion. From his medieval vocabulary to his awesome armor and sword (which I didn’t change one bit since they were already perfect)
  * Seriously though, this fight was the thing that I liked the most. It was a ton of fun to write since, unlike most other fights, it just came to me (probably due to it being sword play and more close combat than usual; plus I love the coolness of Darkbalde fighting). I planned for Ladybug Jester to use and lose the turtle miraculous because Darkblade is the best fighter in the show in my perspective. I also know that I didn’t do the move his ancestor invented, but I really had no place to put it, instead I had him effectively using his sword as a shovel and ripping Ladybug Jester’s shield away, something else that only an amazing swordsman like him could do. The reason I gave the turtle miraculous to the heroes was because corrupting it would make the villain pink. **P I N K!** I don’t know about you guys, but I certainly can't pull off a pink villain. Indigo; yes! Purple; maybe. Not pink! (no offence to actual pink villains in media)




	34. Chapter XXXIV : Mimes and dragons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings once again! I'm here once again to thank you all for your support: your comments and the kudos I've received. Your interest in this The Miraculous Monarch series fuels my desire to continue writing for the two sister fics that make up this alternate universe I came up with. I have hopes that my story will continue to interest you all.
> 
> Have a good day/night/afternoon/evening/lunch/supper/etc. !

Marinette was working on a hat, sewing a small pocket on the interior of it, Alya, Mylene and Lila, a bit awkwardly, making small talk while Wayzz and Nooroo watched from the loft, the turtle kwami irked by the presence of so many people in the girl’s room. After she was done she presented it to Mister Haprele, who ‘took it out of a box’, making Marinette chuckle at the little show, a happy spark in her eyes present that made the two kwamis ‘aww’.

“Thank you Marinette! Saving me at the last minute!”

“It was no problem Mister Haprele, Mylene’s my friend and you are an amazing mime! Come by whenever you need anything fixed up or altered!”

“Thank you once again, I must go now and get to the bus. Bye dear!” he said, patting Mylene head before leaving in a hurry. The four girls watched as he left before Mylene asked.

“So you’ll be there, right?”

“Of course we will girl! We wouldn’t miss this for the world!” replied Alya.

“You can also count on Adrien and Nino as well. They said they’ll be there too!” added Marinette.

“Is it ok if I come too? I don’t really want to make things too awkward.” said Lila.

“Oh, come on Lila! If Marinette thinks you’re ok to be around then you should totally come. Besides she did say—“ Marinette cut off whatever else the blogger wanted to say by elbowing her.

“It’s no problem if she comes too, right?

“I… don’t think there will be. See you all there then?” asked Mylene.

“Definitely.” replied Marinette

“See you!”

“Farewell!”

* * *

Marinette, Alya and Lila walked to the destination on foot, taking the scenic route since they didn’t have anything better to do and the performance wasn’t going to start until later during the evening. The three of them enjoyed each other’s company and the crisp autumn air mostly in silence. Lila went and stepped on any stray leaf that came across, happy to hear them crunching under her feet. Alya made a bit of small talk with Lila, mostly on the subject regarding Lila’s sudden turnaround in personality, the Italian teen trying to be as vague and difficult to understand as possible. Eventually Alya got the hint and changed the subject, proudly showing off a video interview she managed to get with the latest champion, Darkblade, just after Ladybug Jester tried to get back the other miraculous. Marinette mentioned that ‘maybe’ the blogger will one day get lucky and actually score an interview with the lady herself, Alya getting very excited at that idea. After getting some coffee and stopping by to sit on a park bench for a while, they arrived at the show and realized that their seats were up on the center balcony. After they got up there and said hi to Mylene, Adrien and Nino, the two found out why they were all the way up there: Adrien’s dad was actually present. He was dressed in a blue suit and black shirt, no ascot or waistcoat. On his head he wore a blue hat with a green band, its brim making a small shadow cover his upper face. To top it all off he didn’t wear his glasses, probably wearing contacts instead.

“You really don’t like fan mobs, do you?” she asked, trying not to laugh at the amount of things Agreste did to make sure nobody knew he was here.

“No, I do not.” he responded curtly. Marinette noticed how uneasy Agreste’s ‘emotional light’.

“Don’t worry! He came here so he could unwind a bit! He’s hasn’t been feeling too well lately.” whispered Adrien, the boy noticing the subtle signs of worry in his girlfriends expression.

Everybody settled down when the show started, Marinette noticing Agreste visibly relax as he watched it, his ‘emotional light’ being the one thing that remained mostly the same. Marinette relaxed and watched the performance with the others, her hand subconsciously going to hold Adrien’s. The blond became acutely aware of his hand in hers as he tried to stay calm and not explode (or implode) from joy, occasionally stealing glances at her. Even the kwami’s were enjoying themselves, Nooroo, Wayzz, Plagg, Trixx and Duusu watching from their respective hiding places. It was not hard to with how fun the show was, it mostly being a comedic romp where the Mime (played by Mylene’s dad, Fred) and his traveling companion (played by Chris) were basically walking the entire world on foot, trying to find this one person in order to return a borrowed pen.

* * *

After the second act opened there was a new actor on scene, one that was the complete opposite of a mime, loud and obnoxious: Ladybug Jester. The villain made his presence known with a bang, dressed in a gold cape, brown chest plate, over a red suit with black spots, wearing a circlet on his helmet brown helmet, and making a bunch of toys appear, creating a sense of disorientation in the crowd. Everyone made haste to leave the balcony, two of them miraculously managing to get away from each other without a hitch. The only ones that actually went to hide for protection were Nino, Alya, Mylene and Gabriel, Adrien unintentionally getting stuck with them. In her rush to find a place to hide, Marinette stumbled into a random room and closed it. Outside she could hear the sound of fighting, but not Chat Noir fighting, Volpina fighting. Nooroo and Wayzz popped out of her blazer, knowing that she was thankfully alone.

“Now he’s using Xuppu and his miraculous…” said Wayzz, seething.

“We have to save him too.” added Nooroo

“We could do so much more.” replied Marinette, prompting both kwamis to turn and look at her. “Instead of going after the monkey miraculous I just send a champion to capture Ladybug Jester and have him lead us to where the other miraculouses are. Simple!” explained the teen, making both kwami’s smile.

“But what if he doesn’t know where the miracle box is?” asked Wayzz.

“…We get two miraculouses…? Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” Marinette held the cane in both hands as it transformed with her, twirling it a few times right after before freeing the butterfly inside.

“The frustration of having your big moment ruined, the need to protect the one person that’s in danger because of you and the joy of entertaining others would make up the perfect cocktail for my next champion. Fly away my little Fay, and give the silent actor the chance to shine among the other magical performers!” Wayzz snickered a bit, well aware of a butterfly’s need for dramatics, and watched the Fay fly off to its destination. It landed on Mister Haprele’s hat, the butterfly symbol appearing in front of his face.

_“Greetings, Mime! I am Lady Monarch! I can give you the power to make your pantomimes real and continue the show. In return I ask for the villain’s capture and containment. Do we have an agreement?”_

“Yes my lady! You will have a front row seat to one of the most amazing mime shows in existence!” replied Fred from his spot near the stage, the white-yellow light enveloping him.

* * *

Back on the stage Ladybug Jester was frustrated with trying to hit Volpina, the vixen hero using her superior speed and reflexes to dodge his attacks. That was it though, she only dodged, afraid of having her powers go haywire after hearing what Trixx said in regards to the monkey miraculous. They were very aware that they were at an impasse, neither having landed a hit in the slightest. The ladybug villain gaze was caught by a flash of light, Volpina taking this opportunity to jump on his shoulders. He threw her off, the fox landing in the arms of the champion. She looked up, seeing a tall, lean man with a white face, the butterfly ‘mask’ permanently staying there. He had a large bright smile and was dressed in a white shirt with purple stripes under a black tuxedo, with a flower sitting in the outer chest pocket, and a purple bowler hat with a lavender band on it. He placed her back on her feet and mimed covering her with something, Volpina feeling a slight weight and warmth on her shoulders and body that wasn’t there before. Ladybug Jester threw another toy at Volpina, but this time they bounced off something invisible. The mime placed his hand on something behind her head and pulled up what she guessed was a hood before miming a mask and placing it on her face, effectively covering about most of the places Volpina could possibly get hit, sparing her from having her powers or her movements become erratic and uncontrollable, like what happened to the crowd.

Speaking of the crowd, they managed to sit back down in their seats, too scared to do anything else considering their magic induced clumsiness. They watched the fight, Mime taking out a sword and swinging it at Ladybug Jester, who dodged out of the way, only to land on a banana which was placed before hand, making him slip and fall, and making the public laugh. Ladybug Jester retaliated by swinging his yo-yo around, leaning on his staff as he got up. Mime caught the yo-yo with a fishing rod, pulling it towards him, Ladybug Jester pulling back. The two pulled back and forth before the villain let go of the yo-yo, which hit Mime, the champion stumbling back dramatically for comedic effect. Volpina decide to pull her trump card, activating Mirage and making a giant, solid looking dragon on the stage. The beast spewed flames that would never burn, the illusion still making Ladybug Jester back away. He tensed when he heard a quiet thump and looked back at Mime, who was leaning on an invisible wall, batting his eyelashes, a small goofy smile on his face. Ladybug Jester stomped his foot on the ground like an angry child, making the public howl with laughter. He placed his hands on bars that didn’t seem to be there before an idea came to him, signaled by him pointing his finger up. He turned around towards where Volpina was and mimed opening a door. Mime gave a grumpy look to the public, puffing up his cheeks before miming something heavy, and then he threw it at the villain who yelped and jumped way, the heavy object making a hole in the floor where it landed. The villain backed away as Mime was now ready to throw punches, invisible punching gloves having been pulled on his hand. A quick thought came to him and he threw a rubber ducky at the champion. The ducky bounced off his chest, the champion looking at it as it laid on the ground before pulling backwards for comedic effect, covering his chest where he was hit as he stumbled back, turned and then grabbed hold of an invisible rope, pulling a door closed, as evidenced by the sound it made. Ladybug Jester immediately tried to open it, failed, then tried to jump of the stage and into the public seats, only to slam in an invisible wall. As this happened, the champion had mimed pulling down a lever, causing Volpina to get sent above the wall. Ladybug Jester noticed this and tried to jump over as well, only to hit his head and fall flat on the floor of the stage, as Mime made it so the roof would fall after it had been hanging above the stage. Seeing only one way out, Ladybug Jester imagined and hoped that he could crash through a window. His hopes were answered as he managed to escape. Volpina wanted to follow, but didn’t, since her necklace beeped for a third time, alerting her of the incoming transformation back into her civilian self. She turned to the champion and waved goodbye, but before she could leave he stopped her and removed a mimed pen from his tuxedo pocket, handing it to her. Volpina took it, playing the role of being grateful before playing few notes on her flute, orange smoke coming out of it and covering her completely before dissipating to show that she was gone. The public suddenly felt regaining complete control over themselves, so they got up and applauded. Mime bowed a few times before shining with light, turning back into Mister Haprele. The public continued applauding with vigor as the curtains fell.

* * *

“That was awesome! Even though we didn’t see the actual show!” said Adrien.

“I know! My lady really has a knack for making the best fitting champions!” said Marinette as she leaned her head on him, feeling tired.

“You ok Marinette?” asked Alya.

“Yeah. I’m ok.” responded Mari, the girl yawning. The truth was that she needed time to sleep. Last night her leg hadn’t been too kind to her and working with the champion on making a new made up performance was tough. _At least everyone had a good laugh with the improvised script!_ she thought to herself as everyone entered a car that didn’t look like it belonged to Agreste. What made Marinette want to laugh was that the man himself got into the driver’s seat, probably out of fear that the huge bodyguard he paid would tip any passersby off that he was nearby. She settled for having a light nap on the way to her house, waking up to realize she slept on Adrien’s and Alya’s laps. The car stopped at the school, Marinette going inside after she said her goodbyes. After all, there was still something she hadn’t really done yet.

“Are you really sure about this young mistress? Revealing your hand to Mister D’Argencourt could be dangerous, especially if he doesn’t have what you think he has.” cautioned Wayzz.

“Don’t worry Wayzz! I know that he has it; there is nothing else that it could be. The only thing that we have to worry about is whether he will give it to us or not…” she replied. She came across a full lesson, the girl saying hello to everyone who recognized her from two years ago. She made her way towards Armand, who was happy to see her, just like last time. She told him that she had something private to talk about and the two moved to the empty locker rooms.

“So! What doth you have to ask me?”

“…Why did Ladybug Jester want your choker?” asked Marinette, making her old fencing instructor falter. He cleared his throat before responding.

“I haven’t the foggiest what thou art talking about! He just cameth at me demanding I giveth him my family heirloom!” Marinette raised her eyebrow, a smile on her lips as he caught him.

“You use more old timey speech when you lie. Sorry, but I really have to know what he wanted with the choker. My lady asked me to tell her.” Armand made wide eyes before looking at the door, noting that it was still closed.

“Longg!” he whispered, a small red dragon coming out of nowhere and bowing to Marinette. _Perfect! I was right!_ thought Marinette excitedly, making a shocked expression; she did have to pretend this was the first time she saw a kwami after all.

“The dragon miraculous I assume? It was the reason your ancestor got the throne.”

“Correct! Mine ancestor, Darkblade, defeated the dragon that was terrorizing the people by bringing storms and destroying their crops! He went to the beast’s lair and slew it, returning with its egg.”

“But that egg wasn’t a simple egg…” prompted Marinette.

“No, it was not, it was my miraculous! After he defeated the evil holder he took the choker and I was awakened by his desire to help people.” said Longg.

“And so he dedicated his life to keeping this trinket safe.” added Armand as he removed the choker and showed it to Marinette, the girl slowly reaching for it, mindful of not letting Longg see the bracelet she wore. Se grasped it and held it in her hand before looking back up at Armand.

“I’m sorry… but my lady wants this back.”

“And if she does I am afraid I cannot give it up! Longg told me about the use of this magical bauble! I wish to find a wielder for its power, somebody that would be fitting to fight by my lady’s side!”

“We haven’t found anyone that was worthy of receiving it yet, but I keep my hopes that there will be an eventual candidate!” said Longg as he played with his mustache. Marinette looked pensive for a moment before responding.

“…You’re not fit as a wielder D’Argencourt?”

“Me? Well yes, but I could not accomplish such an arduous task in secrecy! Thusly, I will look for someone who can.”

“I’ll… tell my lady that. I hope you find a wielder soon.” replied Marinette as she gave the miraculous back.

“Understood!” responded Armand.

“Perhaps we will see each other again!” said Longg.

“I hope so!” Marinette left the locker room and the school, giving her goodbyes to the other students before making for home, hoping that D’Argencourt was going to choose a wielder soon as she could feel a shift in the balance starting to appear.

Author’s notes:

  * This chapter was actually going to be a lot smaller, but then I thought I didn’t want to leave you guys hanging on the dragon miraculous situation. The discussion between Marinette and Armand rounded out the chapter length nicely.
  * This is my first proper attempt at, like, physical humor. How did I do?
  * I really like Mime! He’s among my favorite akumas because of the gimmick. He’s design for the face really speaks to the fact that he’s angry and sad at basically being betrayed. That makes sense for the show, but here I decided to put a little spin on it. The basic idea was that instead of Chris taking Fred’s role if he didn’t show up (like the gist was in the show), Chris got his own role as a secondary protagonist. As a result of this different timeline Mime got a revamp, although kind of a lazy one. Fred’s face is already really friendly, so the thing I did is sort of keep that, while making him a bit taller and lees ‘muscular’ than Akuma!Mime.




	35. Chapter XXXV : Talk of the guardian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the shadows he appears...

Seamstress was running on roofs. She couldn’t sleep tonight either so she decided to do a combination of her usual champion patrol and getting to the place Wayzz called home. The turtle kwami had been very absent ever since the bracelet came into her possession. He would often space out; he was also sad and slept a lot, occasionally his attitude edging towards anger. Originally she thought that the evil guardian had done something to him and so she looked up a spell from the tome (she really liked the spell pages). Doing that kind of perked him up and he let slip that he was the guardian’s kwami, the true guardian’s kwami, not the evil one’s. This is why she was currently going towards the right bank of the Seine. After she arrived at the destination Wayzz guided her towards, she found a small deserted shop. The place looked like the aftermath of a battle: the front door was ripped off its hinges with large claw marks on it and the ground in front of it, there was also blood, dried. Not feeling safe in the slightest, Seamstress readied her scythe and entered. The inside was no better than the outside, a bunch of claw marks present on the floor and walls; the few objects that were in the room were scattered on the ground, some of them broken, Wayzz going for one of them in particular. She put her scythe back as she kneeled in front of the smashed gramophone, looking at Wayzz, the little kwami hugging a box of matches that was next to it. She cupped him in her hands and let him rest on her shoulder as she inspected the object. After a few minutes of inspecting and piecing the object together she realized that the gramophone, when it was whole, had a hidden compartment, probably for keeping the miracle box. She even found a panel with buttons to confirm her suspicion. She looked towards Wayzz sure of the response before even asking.

“Was this where he kept the miracle box?” She got a nod in return, the kwami floating in front of her.

“I-It was night and we were sleeping! Somebody managed to get past our magical defenses and entered the shop. He tried to steal the gramophone and I woke up—“

“You saw him?!” asked Seamstress, shocked and hopeful that she could know who the orchestrator behind all her extra stress this year was.

“No, the scorpion miraculous allows its wielder to be completely unrecognizable, outright blocking it out. He looked to me like a shadow with a golden-brown light on the edges as well as in the middle, where he had the miraculous. I woke up my master and he transformed to fight the would-be thief, but he transformed as well-and-they-fought-and-master-lost-and-I-was-separated-and…” he trailed off, on the verge of crying. Seamstress allowed him to snuggle her so he could calm down and not break down crying. There was one page in the tome that she always liked to research in hopes of learning more about the history of the miraculouses, The “Guardian List” as she liked to call it. On it there was the name of every person that ended up being entrusted the role of guarding the miracle box, the years in which they were active right next to it. What always baffled her was that every man and woman which was there lived for a long time (in the hundreds, the oldest being one hundred fifty six years old) and yet she couldn’t find anything about them. Right now, this knowledge really put in prospective how heartbroken Wayzz was: the guardian that was with him managed to live longer than any other.

After the little kwami calmed down she looked around some more, eventually moving the mat from the center of the room at his request. Wanting to lighten the mood she comically leaned down to look at the trapdoor, making an exaggerated ‘Hmm!’ sound that made Wayzz snicker. She smiled to him before opening it and dropping down. She found herself inside a not-too-large room filled with what could only be called mementos. There were photos of people where Wayzz pointed out a young Master Fu, a few musical instruments, a few records, jade Chinese statues, an unmarked can with no way to be opened, a magnifying glass with a black handle ( _It looks like that old one I lost…_ ), a few other knick-knacks and an old red cloak; She didn’t find much else besides that, only finding a letter which she opened at Wayzz’ request.

_To whoever finds this,_

_If you are reading this I assume that I have perished and Wayzz is with you. I am also assuming that I died trying to protect the miracle box… I feel dejected to burden you with such a responsibility, but that box contains magical objects beyond anyone’s imagination, objects that could easily be used for self gain! So I ask this of you: please recover and protect it!_

_Wayzz will be your guide if you do not have a miraculous of your own, but in case you are who I think you are, and posses the butterfly, cat or peacock, then I can tell you with absolute certainty that they have great potential when used for the betterment of human kind! If you have already used your powers then that means whoever has stolen the miracle box will come after you… You must fight back! If not for the sake of humanity then at least for yours…_

_I am very saddened because I never got to meet you! However, I still believe that with the right push you will do the right thing and become a wonderful guardian!_

_The greatest blessings are wished upon you by I,_

_Master Wang Fu.”_

By the end of the letter Seamstress was already moved to tears. In just a few words she got an idea of the man that was the guardian and understood why he was fit for the turtle miraculous.

“I wish I got the chance to meet you too!” she whispered, Wayzz hugging her.

* * *

The next day Marinette woke up rested. Being Seamstress made her leg better and so she was able to actually sleep. Too bad she was still going to be late. When she saw the time she changed, ate her breakfast and left in a hurry, making it to school barely on time. She did the usual there, besides a surprise chemistry test, one that she wasn’t too scared by.

One of the perks that Marinette had to see in her life relating to her leg was that she was able to take a step back and find a way to actually organize herself. Being Lady Monarch made her normal schedule a little bit hectic, but she didn’t have much problems, although she sometimes did cut corners and do homework or study as Lady Monarch. She now also had to juggle dating and a social life, the second being far easier now that she wasn’t the school representative anymore. Despite what she originally considered, Lila was actually a frighteningly good listener, and together with Max they were able to get things done. She was actually quite happy with Lila, who seemed to have a better relation with the class than before, the girl finding a love for silly childish comedy and using it to break the ice, make people laugh or just lifting the mood when it seemed to be down.

Marinette could say with certainty that everything was going well.

The next visit to the shop had Marinette taking the gramophone with her and repairing it with a little bit of magic from the tome (she really, **really** , liked the spell pages). The gramophone was now part of The Garden’s décor, Wayzz being happy to spend most of his time there as well as near the tome, the kwami being very impressed by Marinette’s stubbornness and success in decoding it as well as her secrecy in doing so, the invisible ink fascinating him like it did with Nooroo. Besides that she had done various stuff with Wayzz, like reading Chinese folklore books, eating his favorite food— shrimps— and playing Go (the kwami beat her twenty four to one, but she did enjoy that one victory due to how flabbergasted Wayzz was).

Other than her time spent with the kwamis she helped Alya with her blog, having her friend do the same thing with her research (she didn’t send her to the museum yet since she waited for a time where babysitting and her whims coincided), offered advice to Lila when she asked for a little help with class representative stuff (which gave her the opportunity to make a few jabs at how the fox girl managed to get the position in the first place), have her lessons with Mister Agreste, spend time with Adrien (whether it was a study-date, date-date, or just friendly stuff like playing video games), work on her designs, hang out with the art group, be Lady Monarch the Official Guardian (Chat was ecstatic to hear that and to meet Wayzz), read books, play on her handheld, come by to see her old fencing instructor and getting roped into helping some of his weaker students progress (she felt a little too much at home doing that), and many more. She sometimes wondered how she could fit so much stuff into her agenda and even sleep, Adrien, Nino and Alya joking about it as well. Nevertheless, she did manage. She was very happy to hear that Nino’s film won third place as well, the boy being determined to do better, planning to become the best DJ and director in Paris (“How about you begin with getting the top spot on the second movie making competition, ok?”). One thing that unnerved her was how Ladybug Jester still had her butterfly, her mind spinning at the possibilities he had with the magical being. It was probably because of this win that he didn’t take too many risks, only using his own miraculous and sometimes busting out the monkey one. She was very unsure about why he didn’t have a new partner by now. Marinette knew from what she actually managed to decipher from the heavily encrypted scorpion miraculous page ( _How did they even know about ASCII and why is it so SMALL?!_ ) that the ladybug and black cat could not be corrupted, as they are in sync. So the question on her mind was ‘Why?’. Why did the evil guardian keep all the miraculouses to himself and not give any away? She learned from her trip to the shop and what Wayzz told her that he had the whole box and some were missing, the dragon being the one she knew about, but the others’ location being complete mysteries. Another mystery to consider was how Volpina was unable to actually remember where the mastermind’s base was. Lady Monarch guessed that it was because she had been there only when corrupted, so her mind couldn’t really remember what she did there, similarly to how her mind started forgetting about some of the bad things Volpina did, like trying to kill Chat by decapitation, or letting Adrien fall to his death from the Eiffel Tower on her debut. She was very angry at the prospect that the fox girl was “getting off easy”, but when the Italian teen showed that she actually wrote them down so she could remember them and not just simply forget she applauded her, happy that she didn’t allow herself to forget about these bad deeds, and using them to push herself further as a hero to make up for them.

Marinette could say with certainty that everything was going really well. Too well…

* * *

Everything started to go wrong a few days ago, when the scorpion shed his skin and revealed his true self.

It started with the ladybug villain acting in strange ways, attacking only during the night and acting a lot more violent. This made both Lady Monarch and Chat Noir very miffed, as the two struggled with this new ‘schedule’. The teens had trouble with staying awake at school, the two occasionally falling asleep in class. Marinette had it especially worse since she had to deal with her leg pain on top of this new source of exhaustion. The girl couldn’t understand why the villain was acting this way. She theorized that he must be trying to make them tired so they would make mistakes, but that idea got thrown out the window when they had three consecutive nights of no activity, followed by more with a bunch of activity. The two heroes were very stressed, having a villain cause trouble in no discernible pattern except for the fact that it was at night caused them to have problems with their schedules and, as a result, even more stress. Missed homework, inability to prepare for tests, not being able to relax even a single second led to a lot of crankiness, and understandably, a lot of fighting.

A few jabs from Chat about how things would go smoother if Lady Monarch actually showed up and helped; scolding from Lady Monarch about Chat’s reckless behavior that lead to destruction. Chat and Lady Monarch were unable to actually plan a way of attack since the two couldn’t agree about how to utilize his powers with the champions in a way that would lead to victory, the two of them falling back on their fortes, the cat stubbornly going for the most direct solutions while the butterfly inflexibly wrapped herself up in a cocoon of complicated ideas as she stayed cooped up in her Garden sanctuary.

Unbeknownst to the heroes this was exactly the intended purpose of the random night attacks. Chai was gleeful, happily planning the next move, just about ready to introduce his trump card and get the heroes’ miraculouses. And with getting them came the sweet, **sweet** , idea of learning who they were and finding out where they hid the turtle miraculous that they stole from him.

Ladybug Jester was on a rampage again after one night of no activity, but unlike last times he was dominating the heroes. The reason for this was simple: he had teleportation (or ‘hacks’ as Chat put it). Chat and Ironheart were angrily chasing the villain which, every time they got close, would open up a portal and get further away from them. Lady Monarch often attempted to have Ironheart surprise him with the sound absorption that she added to the champion’s arsenal in order to make him move more quietly, but to no avail. The villain was leading them all over the place: from the park, to the college, back to the park, to The Trocadero, then to the Notre Dame and then to the Eiffel tower ( _What’s with the light show? No, concentrate, you’ll find out later!_ ) then back to the park and the college. Unlike most nights people were out and about as well, watching as the heroes chased down the villain all over Paris. Eventually he stopped at the theatre where he fought Mime, Copycat and Bubblemaster (Lady Monarch had to switch out between all the different champions in the one and a half hours of villain tailing). Eventually they made their way inside, all of them pretty tired, Chat just going off his cat’s instincts at this point, crawling on all fours and barely saying a word as he looked around the dark theatre. The spotlights suddenly turned on, blinding the heroes and Ladybug Jester took his chance, swiftly taking care of the champion and letting the white butterfly cower away until the fight was over, leaving Chat and him alone. Chat glared at Ladybug Jester, hissing at the villain’s latest use of two miraculouses: he wore a pair of sunglasses on his face as well as his earring, besides that he wore a brown leather jacket with pointy shoulder pads over his black jumpsuit with red dots. Finally he wore a brown fedora and a pair of arm and leg guards. Ladybug Jester wasted no time in playing around, using his ‘Voyage’ to get close to Chat, the hero putting up a valiant effort to stay away. Chat tried to fight the villain, knowing in his heart that he might lose because of being alone. Ladybug Jester delivered punches, kicks and occasionally wrapped his yo-yo around the tired hero and threw him at a wall. Yet through all of this Chat kept getting up and fighting back, aggravating the villain and making him break the silence he kept.

“Why won’t you stay down?! You are losing, accept that damn it!” Ladybug Jester said furiously, as he watched Chat get up from being thrown around yet again. Ladybug Jester threw his yo-yo at the hero, but to his horror he deflected it.

“Just because the odds aren’t in my favor doesn’t mean I will let you win! I WILL KEEP FIGHTING AND WON’T STOP TILL I WIN AND GET BACK THOSE MIRACULOUSES YOU DON’T DESERVE!” Chat rushed at the villain, fighting past his own tiredness, the luck power of the villain and his ability to teleport. He managed to get the villain on the defensive, still getting in hits and pushing him back. He was kicking, clawing and batting away the villain as he tried to get close and eventually he hit jackpot: he managed to knock of the glasses, Ladybug Jester losing his teleportation.

* * *

Meanwhile Seamstress rushed to the theatre, trying to reach Chat, her partner, realizing that using all the other champions was useless, as the villain was used to them. No! What the situation needed was a new factor, her fighting style, with her unique moves, weapon, and way of fighting alongside Chat. This was the only way they could possibly get the upper hand. As she reached the theatre she heard cheering, looking down to see people gathered around the place, cheering her on as this was her first real fight, not counting Volpina since they barely saw any of their fight. She entered the building quickly and rushed towards the fight, grabbing the stray glasses that were tossed on the ground in the struggle, before launching herself upwards with coiled spring legs. She dropped from the sky and slammed her scythe hard on Ladybug Jester, hard enough to cause cracks in the helmet. The villain stumbled away as she readied herself for any incoming attack.

“You came!” Chat let happy tears run down his face, looking at Seamstress, the champion being very confused at the sudden warmness from him. The theatre was filled with people as everyone entered and watched with baited breath the ensuing fight, Alya filming the fight with Nino next to her. Ladybug Jester was too caught up to pay attention to the crowd, if he had he may have been able to attack them mercilessly to get himself an advantage, something he happened to do in some of the previous fights, but he didn’t, which led to him getting overwhelmed. Despite the fact that Seamstress being the one with the least fighting experience (at least as a champion) she was actually the most flexible opponent, her powers allowing her to jump around the battle field, using her scythe to make cracks in the villain’s armor every time she got close, falling down to Chat’s level, who also batted him with his staff, both of them not even letting him breathe, never mind allowing him the time to activate his ‘Lucky Charm’. Ladybug Jester almost had a lucky break when he caught Seamstress’s scythe with his Yo-yo, only to falter in horror when she let it be pulled away, the weapon spinning in the air as if it had a soul of its own until it came back to her. With this final card on the table, Ladybug Jester had to contend with an opponent that had so much reach, as she danced around the battle field, leading him towards the cat hero. Ladybug Jester realized that he made a big mistake… that his plan went wrong, that he trapped himself with the heroes and no way out. As a last ditch effort he all but threw himself at the cat hero and grabbed his ring hand. Realizing what this meant, Seasmtress broke the spot lights at the last second, two flashes of light appearing, one green and one pink. The hero kicked away the villain and everyone gasped as he started glowing, a silhouette presenting themselves to the crowd.

Adrien put the earrings on and looked at the ladybug kwami that appeared, who gave him a curt nod and whispered to him the transformation phrase. He nodded back to her, eyeing the villain that started to slowly light up the theatre in brown.

“Tikki! Spots on!” he said, transforming with the ladybug miraculous before the light reached him. When it did everyone looked at him as well, his leathery black cat suit being replaced by a ladybug themed one. Chat looked up at the champion that was hanging by the spots lights before turning to the villain, who was smiling under the magical shadow that protected his identity as he showed off the ring. He placed it in a pocket before beginning to speak.

“People of Paris, I am quite delighted to see you! After all this time we finally meet, face to face, no tricks, no mask and no hiding.”

“Oh, yeah?! Then why don’t you get rid of that stupid shadow you coward!?” asked Seamstress, the champion landing next to her partner, ready for battle. She got an evil chuckle in return, a kwami flying out of one of the villain’s pockets.

“Stingg… prepare the venom!” he said, the kwami rushing into the miraculous and transforming him into the scorpion villain, letting himself down on four legs. Everyone was horrified by his appearance: a large, muscular human with brown ‘skin’, claws, a pointy head with elongated, shinny yellow eyes, a mouth with rows of jagged teeth and bug mandibles, acid dripping out of it. Finally he had large shoulders, almost looking like shoulder pads, and a very long tail ending in a huge stinger with a center spike and four side spikes, all of them pointing straight forward.

“Greetings everyone! I’m Chai, the true guardian of the miraculouses! All I want is to get the magical jewels back from these two kids you people call heroes, is that too much to ask?”

“You can drop the victim act Chai! You are not the true guardian of the miraculouses, Lady Monarch is! And we are here to protect the people of Paris, get them back and stop whatever twisted plan you want to use them for!” said Chat, gesturing dramatically, making the crowd cheer for the heroes. They threw what they had on hand at the villain, who growled in frustration and leapt away, making a hole in the wall. The ladybug hero was about to head after him when a hand was placed on his shoulder. He glared back at Seasmtress, but then calmed down, realizing that going after the villain was suicidal and that glaring at his girlfriend was just rude, no matter the context.

“Use ‘Miraculous Ladybug’. Please?” He stared at her a bit and then did what he was told, activating the power and seeing the ladybugs going around the theatre and then leaving to repair the rest of the damage caused. Seamstress smiled and made a thumbs up, the two heroes parting ways, leaving the crowd to stare after them.

_Don’t worry Plagg! I will get you back, I promise!_ thought Adrien to himself as he arrived in his room, letting the transformation drop. He looked at the ladybug kwami and smiled tiredly at her, going to his bed. He faltered when she nested in his hair, but continued to make his way to the bed, falling hard on it.

“I’m Tikki… Thanks for saving me Chat and… I’m sorry you lost Plagg…” said Tikki, happy that her miraculous was retrieved and sad that it had to happen by losing Plagg’s to the villain.

“It’s ok Tikki… I’m gonna get him back…” Adrien responded before falling asleep. All in all the heroes had the upper hand: they managed to secure two miraculouses while Chai only gained one.

Author’s notes :

  * Say hello to Misterbug! Don’t worry we’ll get Chat back quickly… They will need help from an elephant though.
  * This chapter was originally supposed to be split, but I decided against it since the first part was too short. I will follow this chapter up with two shorts that will look into the aftermath of what happened in this chapter.
  * The title is in reference to Marinette getting the position of guardian from post-mortem Master Fu as well as Chai’s false declaration of being the guardian.
  * Chai’s transformation is based off of Scorpion 2099 from the game Spider-man Shattered Dimensions. If you look him up, you’ll see that he has a pincer instead of one of the hands.




	36. Chapter XXXVI: Zoo and friends

Marinette woke up suddenly. After the events of yesterday night, her alarm didn’t wake her up. She prepared herself for the day and then rushed downstairs to get her breakfast, positive that she was already late. Only when she reached the living room did she notice her parents and ‘roommate’ sitting on the couch. _That’s not right…_ she checked her phone and saw that she really was late, this being the time when she would usually find dad or mom in the bakery working (Lila too). She limped to the couch and leaned in the other’s field of view, her parents watching a romantic film while wrapped in comfy blankets, each of them holding a cup of hot chocolate, and Lila looking at her phone, also holding a cup of hot chocolate.

“Good morning dear! Yours is over there!” supplied Sabine helpfully, pointing to another cup sitting on the table, a napkin placed on it. She limped to it and took it in her hands, noticing that it was still warm. She took a sip, the warm sweet liquid relaxing her. She remembered what she wanted to ask and turned to her parents.

“Why are you not down in the bakery?”

“Didn’t you hear Marinette? Everyone was up last night due to the fight, so today everyone is taking it easy, even us!” said Tom.

“Which means we will open later than usual and you with Lila have no school today!” continued Sabine.

“It’s happening in all of France actually. A bit weird, but really cool.”

“Oh…” was all Marinette could say.

* * *

Adrien woke up after a while, stretching and letting out a long yawn. When he looked at the room he noticed Tikki zipping around and looking at everything, occasionally touching stuff. He snickered a bit, remembering that Plagg did something similar, only he was less energetic, as if he thought it was a bad idea to do so. He got up from bed and went to his mirror, eyeing the silver earrings he wore. He supposed it worked well enough, but he would probably have a hard time hiding them from his friends.

“You got a message! Someone called Marinette.” Adrien turned to Tikki, grabbing his phone from the kwami and reading the message.

 _School canceled! You. Me. Alya. Nino. Lila. Zoo! XO”_ Adrien beamed at the invitation, running to his bathroom to get prepared, Tikki following. After he was done with his morning shower and changed into more weather appropriate clothes (style appropriate for the earrings as well) he went into the dining room where he saw his father eating an omelet. Wary of him seeing the earrings he tried to leave, only to bump into Nathalie, who looked very tired.

“Good morning Adrien…” said Nathalie, going to get a cup of coffee. Gabriel smiled to himself, happy that his son was being careful about him seeing the earrings. If he weren’t the one to give the boy the ring he would have thought that Adrien was going through a phase. He was having a hard time deciding whether to be happy about him entering the dining room silently on reflex though, realizing the cat skills his son had embraced. He turned to Adrien and beckoned him over, too tired by staying up last night to actually talk at the moment. Adrien made his way to the table, noticing that his dish was closer to his father’s. The two of them ate in a nice, if a bit tense, silence, before Adrien decided to bring up the message.

“Father, I heard that school was canceled and Marinette asked me to hang out, so… Could I go? Pretty please?” Gabriel sipped his cup of coffee, blocking the chuckle his son almost startled out of him. _Who did he hear **that** from?_

“Very well… Considering that you tutors and photographer are all too tired to actually do anything then I will grant you this free day.”

“Thank you father!” said Adrien, eating happily. Was this what good parenting was? Gabriel had no idea. He looked at his son and noticed how awake he was despite the fact that he was the one exerting himself last night. Gabriel sighed, taking a sip from his coffee before he asked:

“How cold was the water?” Adrien looked up at him warily, not saying a word. Oh, how he wished he was at the other end of the table right now. Gabriel didn’t bring the question up again, going to his son’s bathroom after he left and noticing the handle moved all the way to hot, as well as it being a little warm. _Sneaky cat!_ he thought to himself as he went back to his office to begin some light work.

* * *

Alya was jogging when she got the message, the teen energetic enough to resist feeling tired even after sleeping in. She looked at her phone after she reached a stop point, smiling.

“Hey Alya! Ready for a fun day at the zoo? :3” It was a good thing that it was still open, her father phoning her that they had to work despite last night. _Entertainers gotta entertain!_ she thought to herself, looking up to see Chat, or whatever his name was now, zipping around Paris. _Well he’s in a hurry! Where’s the fire?_

* * *

Volpina was on the flute-phone, talking to Lady Monarch as she jumped from roof to roof.

“Yes! I know my lady… It wasn’t my fault, Trixx didn’t give me a heads up… Three hours. Now that I actually know what I’m doing it won’t take so long. Yes, I’d try to be better in the future my lady. I promise… Ok, bye! Love you my lady!” Volpina closed the call and face palmed, realizing what she just said. _Why the hell would I say that?! Dammit!_ thought Volpina as she made her way towards the zoo, where Lady Monarch said her friend was.

* * *

Nino was in his bed, sleeping away, snoring peacefully. He got woken up by his loud message notification, cursing himself for his choice of using that one. He looked at the message, the boy still a little groggy with sleep.

“Hi Nino, do you want to come with me, Alya, Adrien and Lila to the zoo? Sorry if I woke you up.” Nino was a bit curious about the whole Lila situation. He still remembers that she and Marinette stay under the same roof together now, as well as the fact that she was actually good at listening to people (if the debatable convincing lies were any indication), so he decide to go and see this New Lila(TM) for himself.

* * *

Marinette waited for everyone, sitting on a bench and dozing off, her head resting on her cane’s handle. She was startled when she felt someone nuzzle her hair, waking up to see Adrien sitting next to her, a mischievous smile on his lips. She giggled a bit and reached out to ruffle his already messy hair. He distanced himself a bit after she finished, which allowed her to see his look: he was dressed in a red flannel and black hoodie, with black pants and red sneakers, as well as a pair of bland silver earrings instead of his ring. Feeling stared at, her gaze moved to the side where everyone was looking, all of them with some level of amusement.

“If you love birds need some time we could go on ahead!” said Lila, making finger guns. Marinette glared with no real bad intention, a smile on her lips as she and Adrien got up.

“How long were you staring?” she asked.

“A minute or so… I get why you like him so much now! He’s constantly **purring** for your attention!” joked Nino, making Adrien stiffen a little and Marinette frown.

“Yeah, and he’s my kitty. No one’s allowed to have him!” said the girl as she held him by the waist and pressed her head to his side, making him red. The teens joked a little more as they got a move on, but eventually dropped it, to Adrien’s relief. All of them walked around, watching the animals in their spaces, stopping at one in particular, a black panther, and the man that was with it.

“Hi dad! How’s Sophie?”

“Isn’t giving names to a wild animal bad?” asked Marinette immediately, Adrien and Nino too caught up by the cute idea of the panther having a name. Otis chuckled.

“Normally we don’t give them names, but Sophie here is not going back into the wild so we are allowed. Anyway what are you kids doing here? Is school canceled as well?”

“Yep! Marinette invited all of us to the zoo to hang out!” responded Lila. The panther glanced at Adrien, giving him a small growl.

“I don’t think she likes me!” he said, eyeing the panther. Everyone turned to Otis as he laughed, the man getting out of the glass cage.

“Actually she kind of likes you boy! She’s usually a bit grumpy with new people, but she seems to not mind you too much.” Adrien looked down at Marinette, who once again held on to his side, mouthing ‘My kitty!’ to the panther. The teens hanged around a little longer before leaving to watch the other animals.

“Oh I forgot to ask, why are suddenly wearing earrings?” asked Marinette.

“Oh! Well… uh…”

Adrien’s awkward attempts at coming up with an excuse were fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how one interprets it) ended by a certain villain. A roar came from the middle of the zoo, making everyone there scatter while screaming, some in fear while others in pain as they held onto slash wounds, all afraid of the hideous and disgusting feline-scorpion creature that started terrorizing the place.

Adrien was the first to find a safe spot, eager to retrieve the ring that was obviously being used by the villain. Tikki, noticing this, decided to subtly postpone the fight in order to calm him down.

“Alright, now that we have the chance I’ve got to explain your powers!”

“I’ve already seen your powers!” he argued, wanting to just go and get Plagg back.

“No, you saw my powers being used **badly**. I want to make sure you use them correctly… Please?” she looked at him with a smile, her big eyes pleading for him to wait for her to explain. Adrien sighed and motioned a ‘go ahead’.

“Ok, so you have three powers: passive luck, Lucky charm and Miraculous ladybug! The first and last ones are pretty easy to use so I won’t bore you with the details. Lucky charm is the one you have to use carefully. My last holder, this Chai person, used it incorrectly, jumping at the first opportunity to make use of the object he gained. That’s not how you use it. Lucky charm gives you an item that will ensure your victory when used with a plan that caters to your way of improvising. Make sure to also use it when you think the time is right, when the enemy is where you want him, ok?”

“Ok, got it! Use it with a plan and when I need it! Tikki! Spots on!” The kwami flew into the earrings, Adrien using the magic to make his mask and then hero suit as he twirled. He took out his yo-yo and used it to swing around, still a bit apprehensive of the unfamiliar way of travel. He reached the villain alongside Volpina.

* * *

Lila was miffed! Not only did the villain have the ring because she wasn’t there yesterday to help Chat and Lady Monarch, but now she had to fight Chai while he shamelessly used the ring’s powers.

“Don’t worry! We’ll get the ring back from him and make up for last time. This is our chance!” Lila looked at her kwami neutrally before looking away, smiling. Trixx’s laid back personality was infectious.

“Trixx. Let’s pounce!” she said, flicking her necklace before the kwami entered it, the girl making a pirouette as the blue flames made her suit appear, then she formed her ears, mask and tail from them. Volpina came out of her hiding spot and jumped towards the commotion, reaching the villain and landing next to Chat.

* * *

Marinette hid somewhere safe where she transformed into Lady Monarch, spinning her cane as it became the magical variant.

“A man that not only wants to protect the civilians, but the animals as well. That is a very good way of thinking for a champion!” she said as she made a Fay. “Fly away my little Fay, and give the zookeeper the power to protect all the living beings here!” The Fay flew to its mistress chosen champion, and Otis, noticing it, let it land on his bracelet.

_“Greetings Animan! I’m Lady Monarch! I can give you the power of the animal kingdom for your use. All you have to do in return is to retrieve the black cat miraculous from Chai. What do you say to this arrangement?”_

“I say I like it my lady!” replied Otis, the white-yellow light enveloping him and turning him into Animan: He looked exactly like Sophie. He turned towards the people and roared loudly, all the animals in the exhibits stopping, their eyes glowing. All of them then managed to open their doors and got out, leading all the humans inside to safety, two of them ended up being Alya and Nino, stuck inside the same exhibit alone together, no other people with them. Animan and his army of animals went to the center of the zoo, finding Volpina and the other hero.

“Now that I’ve got the ladybug earrings I’ll be Mister Bug! And now that you stole mine what will you call yourself? Whiskers, Paws, Cat Jester?” mocked Mister Bug as he used the yo-yo to hit the villain from afar, the latter missing his one acid shot. Animan sent his army to fight the cat-scorpion monstrosity, the champion turning into a bald eagle and landing on Volpina’s shoulder, stopping the vixen hero dead in her tracks when the butterfly symbol appeared.

“Hi ma’am— Sir! Hi! I’m happy to be working with you today…! <awkward laughter>” she saluted with her left hand.

“My lady says you should wait for Mister Bug to use his Lucky Charm and then assist him with an illusion. That way you can help him better.”

“O-Oh! Ok…” she responded, looking a bit conflicted before perking up and watching form afar, the champion leaving. She played a quick song and made a blue flare appear on the end of it. She swung it at the air and made a fissure that she went through. The fissure closed and Lady Monarch, seeing through her champion’s eyes , recognized it as the fox’s secondary power mentioned in the tome: ‘Ghost trek’. Chai was hit from behind by an invisible enemy, then from the front. Chai’s legs were pulled out from under him, the animals using this chance to crash into him, sending him a little ways away. Animan went to Mister Bug and rested on the confused champion’s shoulder.

“My lady says that Volpina’s using her secondary power! She’s attacking from the spirit plane, acting like a poltergeist. She’s giving you an opening. Now’s your chance to use your ‘Lucky charm’!” Mister Bug nodded and activated the special ability, getting a flashlight in return. He took a deep breath and did as Tikki told him, chanting ‘No rushing.’ inside his head. He looked around and noticed the direction the fight was heading to (towards the crocodile habitat) and also saw Volpina attacking out into the open, the vixen hero probably having a time limit to be a ghost or something. He looked down at his flashlight before he pulled out his Yo-yo and swung to the fight.

“I have an idea. I need you to get Chai closer to the crocodiles’ habitat!”

Animan came behind him and turned into a mouse to scurry towards Chai, the champion then turning into a gorilla and grabbing his ring hand. Chai responded by throwing the champion away, making Volpina dodge and see that Mister Bug had a ‘Lucky charm’. Smiling, she put her flute to her lips and made a bunch of clones of herself, all of them teasing and telling mean jokes to Chai, making him swing out wildly and miss all of them. Mister Bug seeing his chance, made a sign to the champion and what he thought to be the real Volpina to wait. He went to action when Chai faced his direction and shone the light form his flashlight into his eyes, blinding him. Volpina and Animan, the champion turned into a liger, charged at him and pushed him into the habitat the villain was right in front of. The villain landed in the water and unfortunately for him, the scorpion and black cat combined boosted his animalistic instincts, so he freaked out and activated his ‘Cataclysm’, causing the water to evaporate and cover his escape. Animan tried to follow, transforming into a T-Rex, but his bracelet beeped and he saw that his lady only had one minute left. He turned back and turned into a Pomeranian, running to Mister Bug and jumping in his arms, making him laugh a little and forget about the villain’s escape as he licked him. Mister Bug activated his ‘Miraculous ladybug’ and fixed all the damage, placing all the animals and humans back in their place as well. He and Volpina said their goodbyes and Animan turned back into Otis, the man going to find his daughter and see if she was ok.

* * *

Marinette regrouped with the rest of her friends and they left the zoo to get some ice cream, her plan working out quite well: Nino and Alya’s hands were brushing ever so slightly!

Author’s notes:

  * This chapter is also longer because of I crammed in a bunch stuff about Adrien’s temporary new look, Adrienette, Lila getting back into the picture, Alya and Nino, the latter being someone that I would like to focus on a bit more in the future.
  * I really hope I don’t get carried away with the next chapter and make it with a bazillion pages or something.
  * The reason AnimaN didn’t turn into a T-Rex from the begging was because he is now playing the role of a hero who is more concerned about the safety of others. Bummer, I know, but I made it up by giving him the magical ability to control the animals, making them a proper army instead of just a minor inconvenience, like they were in cannon.
  * Does it make sense for school to be canceled because there was a villain fight and most people didn’t sleep? I think it is!
  * I hope I’m not OOC-ing Tikki! I really like her but I find that writing the kwami’s interactions is slightly harder, especially since they don’t interact with whom they do in canon.




	37. Chapter XXXVII : A game of go fish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greetings everyone! I'm here to once again thank you for the support you're giving me (the kudos and comments). This update and the short I will post next time will shed light on who the peacock miraculous owner really is!
> 
> Happy reading! I am patiently awaiting your feedback.

Chai was currently being chased away by Volpina, the latter using her ‘Ghost trek’ ability in order to keep up with the villain. An added bonus was that the ghosts would point her in the right direction when she lost sight of him. Working with Volpina was Bubblemaster, the champion utilizing a combination of white and yellow bubbles that would stick to his feet while also allowing him to jump very high, greatly increasing his movement. The heroes were chasing Chai away from the +KIDZ studio, the villain trying his darnedest to party crash at the show there. Eventually he gave up, and left without a trace. Bubblemaster stood there for a little longer, his lady confounded by Chai not using the black cat miraculous this time. She presumed it was because of Plagg’s preference for smelly cheese, but she wasn’t so sure.

" _Y_ _ou may go now Bubblemaster! You have a friend to get back to._ ” Bubblemaster agreed with his lady, going back to +KIDZ studio for the challenge. In the meantime, Lila appeared as support, the girl holding up her phone for Marinette to see the DJ at work and provide her emotional support from afar. When Nino was called up for his performance all the teens there wished him good luck.

“Welcome back to everyone’s number one live game show: The Challenge! Let’s give it up for our awesome contestant, Nino!” Nino made his way in front of the camera. “So Nino, you’re a student **and** a DJ. That’s pretty awesome! Check out the decks we got you!” Nino admired them as he went in front, feeling the controls. Marinette and the others watched from afar as Nino was given the challenge to make the mayor dance to his music. When the mayor appeared on screen Marinette noticed something that made her frown. Under the friendly and happy exterior the old man put up he was sad. She could see it in his eyes, the loneliness, making her sad for what happened at the begging of the school year. Nino began playing one of his songs, and, after a while, the mayor began to move his head to the rhythm, eventually doing it visibly enough for it to be considered dancing, Alec announcing Nino as the winner. After Nino won everyone was ready to get going until they heard what the next contestant had to do. Everyone turned back to the set when they saw Gabriel Agreste appear on the screen.

“What is this show? I was told this was an interview.”

“Oh! This is gonna end badly!” said Marinette, making everyone look at her. “He told me in a lesson that he hates lying!” Everyone looked back to the screen, Adrien agreeing, afraid that his father will be too cold with the contestant.

“Do your thing, Grimault, let’s see if you can bring Mister Agreste here with your hypnotic persuasion!”

“I told you, I don’t make people—”

“Ha! A shy hypnotist! How funny is that Gabriel?”

“Hilarious. Your show is pathetic. And so is your contestant. Control me? Never!” Gabriel closed the video call, sighing as he let himself lean on the chair in his office. _Why is he always so annoying?_ he thought to himself.

Back at the studio Simon was declared the looser by Alec, the man leaving, grumbling about how it wasn’t fair for him to lose without even trying. Marinette ended the video call with Lila and called Adrien, urging him to go after Simon so she could talk with him, which he did.

“Your name is Simon, right?” asked Marinette ever the phone, making the young man turn to the two teens. His eyes widened when he saw Adrien holding the phone, realizing who he was talking to.

“Hey, you’re Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Adrien’s girlfriend!” the man stopped walking and Marinette stared at him a bit. She sighed, thinking that there was no way for people to already recognize her.

“Yes! It’s me! I actually asked Adrien to follow you because there is something important I have to tell you.”

“If you’re apologizing for Mister Agreste, there’s no need to. I’m madder about the not being given a chance to show my talent…”

“Figured that! What I wanted to tell you is that you should never give up, as the art of persuasion is a talent that is hard to come by!”

“O-oh, thank you! I—” before he could say anything a loud crash was heard in the studio, Adrien and Simon going back to see Chai in the studio, the scorpion causing havoc. Adrien looked down at his phone to see the call ended, internally happy that he didn’t have to close the call on Marinette. He went somewhere to hide, finding an empty utility closet.

“He really wanted to get in here! I wonder why?” thought Tikki out loud, making Adrien confused.

“What do you mean by that? Did he try to get in here earlier?”

“Yes, Lady Monarch sent you a call about Chai trying to get to the TV studio, but I couldn’t tell you since you were with the bodyguard.”

“Oh! Well I know now and I can put a stop to him! Tikki! Spots on!” Adrien was engulfed by the magical pink light, turning him into Mister Bug as he twirled. Mister Bug got out of the closet and rushed to the villain’s location.

* * *

“Great; just what I needed! Dammit Marinette, answer the phone! Lady Monarch needs to know about this!” She sighed, placing the phone away.

“Maybe she already contacted her! It’s hard to miss the sound of the crash, and your friend’s the type that always prepares.”

“I suppose you’re right Trixx! I really hope she did. Until then: Trixx. Let’s pounce!” Lila flicked the necklace before the kwami entered it, the girl doing a pirouette as the blue flames made up her suit, then her mask and finally her ears and sash-tail. She came out of hiding and began to attack the villain. Mindful of his reach, she hit him, backed away, then repeated, putting a lot more distance when he got hit by a yo-yo.

“Hello my vixen friend! How was the night shift?”

“Sufferable... I still feel a little bit tired but I’m ok.”

* * *

Marinette entered her Garden, standing in the middle. She pressed a button on the center of the floor with her cane, opening the newly installed ceiling blind, letting the light in from the top and exciting the butterflies.

“I think Chai is targeting your boyfriend Adrien, Marinette! He might want to do the same thing Volpina did when she was a villain.” said Nooroo. Marinette sighed.

“Why must villains always go after the good looking ones?” she asked tiredly before regaining her energy. “He will not put a finger on my Adrien! Not on my watch! Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” Nooroo entered into the brooch and all the butterflies swarmed Marinette, parting after she transformed into Lady Monarch, who twirled her cane as it became her miraculous weapon. She stood still for a moment, considering her champion options, before settling on the one she liked most.

“A shy hypnotist indeed… but oho! How good he’ll be with a little personality adjustment and amazing powers to boot!” she said as she made her Fay. “Fly away my beautiful Fay, and give this hypnotist the courage and powers to win his prize!” The Fay flew towards the TV studio, flapping its wings as fast as possible and managing to arrive and find the champion in the nick of time.

_“Greetings Simon Says! I’m Lady Monarch! I can give you hypnotic powers beyond your wildest dreams in order to prove to the world how amazing you are! All I ask of you is to bring me Chai’s miraculous, the scorpion bolo tie he has around his neck! Do you agree to this contract?”_

“Yes my lady, I do! Simon Says will be the most amazing hypnotist Paris has ever seen, amazing enough to get you the miraculous!” he said, the white-yellow light engulfing his form and leaving behind the champion. Simon Say was dressed in a blue and red ‘suit’ with a comically large black bowtie. His skin was ghostly white and he wore a black mask and top hat in blue and red. Finally he had shoulder pads and in his hand he held his cards, all a duplicate of the one where the Fay resided, the magical butterfly ready to hide in another one if the situation called for it. Simon Says got up from his hiding spot and went near the fight, positioning himself just right for a shot.

“Simon says you are a passive elephant!” he said, throwing a card with an elephant symbol on it. The card hit its mark, but unfortunately for him it had the opposite effect, making the scorpion villain even more rabid. Chai spit acid at a wall and melted a hole into it, letting him run away.

“What was that you bozo?! You made it worse!” said Volpina to the confused champion.

“I-I don’t know! My lady said…” he stopped talking as the butterfly symbol appeared, listening to what his lady had to say and then groaning in frustration.

“My lady just told me that the villain’s primary power is always in use, reversing whatever command I give him! Ugh, that means I’ll have to say the reverse of everything I want him to do!” The butterfly symbol appeared again and Simon Says went quiet, nodding after it disappeared. “Before we leave my lady says we must find Adrien Agreste and his friends! Then we’ll go to his house and drop them off there!” Mister Bug and Volpina stiffened a bit and Nino, who was stuck hiding very near the fight, came out and stood next to the champion.

“Hey guys! I think we should split up to cover more ground, we’ll find the two teens in-no-time-that-way-ok-bye!” said Mister Bug quickly before leaving to turn back into Adrien.

“He’s right! Splitting up to cover more ground will get things done faster.” said Volpina in a much calmer tone, leaving to transform back as well. Simon Says and Nino shared a look, the two going to find the two missing teens, running into them after no time at all. Simon Says also ran into the bodyguard, an idea popping into his head.

“Simon Says you are a brute!” he threw a card at the bodyguard and he turned into an even larger and more muscular man than he already was. Simon Says transformed all the other people he came across and then, when they arrived at the exit of the building he threw a card with a vortex symbol at the double doors with the following command.

“Simon Says these doors lead to the Agreste Mansion!” The doors burst open, making a portal to the mansion appear, everyone entering it and the troops being set outside as the champion and the three teens entered. Simon Says was a bit miffed that his cards beeped, showing that his lady only had four minutes left to guide him.

“Nathalie, where’s my father? We have to find a safe place to hide before Chai comes after me!”

“He knows!” said Nathalie, Gabriel sitting on top of the staircase.

“This is already a safe place Adrien! Isn’t this why you brought them all here Lady Monarch?” asked Gabriel, looking at Simon Says with sharp eyes.

“This is the safest place I could think of. I figured a mansion such as this one has a security system cliché! I'll be disappointed if proven wrong.” said Lady Monarch through the champion, careful to not give away the fact that she actually knew about it from Mister Agreste himself. Gabriel hummed in acknowledgement before leading the champion and Nathalie to the office, sending the teens in Adrien’s room, the ‘brute’ sitting in front of the door outside. Adrien quickly hogged the bathroom, giving the lame excuse that he had to take a shower and Lila stealthily left through one of the ‘bear’ doors while the boys didn’t pay attention to her. In a few seconds Mister Bug and Volpina were ready, entering Gabriel’s office before he activated the security measures and locked all the doors. Activating them proved to be a smart move, as the scorpion came to the mansion and started attacking Simon Says’ troops. Too weak to stop him, they only slowed him down. The villain bashed the front door a few times and managed to get inside, grumbling to himself about how he shouldn’t have used his ‘Acid’ early. The troops followed the villain inside and continued to slow him down.

Back in the office everyone was looking at the door, ready to attack Chai. Gabriel used this chance to stealthily open his safe and remove the peacock brooch, confident that that was the reason Chai came here. He placed it in one of his blue suits pocket and left it there. Unbeknownst to him Mister Bug caught a glimpse of him at the portrait, but was unable to say anything as Chai burst into the room, the heroes ganging up on him and holding him down. Simon Says prepared his cards, but his hands were hit by the Chai’s tail, which he used to get free from Mister Bug’s and Volpina’s hold, the villain moving to mister Agreste, pushing Nathalie, who stood in fornt of Agreste, aside. Volpina acted quickly, making a bunch of copies of Gabriel and Nathalie, Gabriel grabbing her hand and running, the clones mirroring his action at the same time. Chai growled, turning to the heroes.

“Simon Says you will refuse to give up your miraculous!” the champion threw all the cards he had with the scorpion symbol before he made more, keeping Chai dodging and stopping him from progressing in any way.

“Lucky charm!... A hand held vacuum cleaner?! What Am I supposed to do with this?”

“Maybe the floors need cleaning, there’s dust everywhere!” Volpina sneezed, giving Mister Bug an idea. He started to vacuum all the dust in the air to Volpina’s surprise. While he did that Chai was slowly managing to make progress, using the desk as a shield.

“Simon Says, you must stay here!” one crad actually landed, the scorpion villain immediately taking the opportunity to leave, not before he was hit with the vacuum though, the lucky charm opening and the dust blinding Chai, giving Simon Says enough time to make another card and throw it. Unfortunately he slipped on the vacuum cleaner after it dropped and Chai ran out, all the heroes being unable to stop him as their timers were going to run out. Mister Bug and Volpina made their separate ways back to Adrien’s room, not before Miraculous ladybug was release of course, allowing all the damage to be repaired.

* * *

“Welcome to everyone’s number one live game show, The Challenge! Last week, our cool DJ friend Nino won the challenge. So, let’s welcome him back again. Come on out DJ Nino!” Nino enters the stage, waving to the camera, or more correctly, waving to Adrien and Marinette who were at home. The two were watching from her room, snuggling on the chaiselongue in front of a laptop, enjoying some hot chocolate.

“So we upped the challenge for you tonight, Nino. You’re going to get two celebrities dancing instead of one! However, this time you can choose your opponents.”

“Oh, I’ve got this one in the bag. I’m gonna pick two buds I know won’t let me down: Lady Monarch and Mister Bug!” The two teens paled, Marinette scrambling for an excuse to get away. Fortunately Adrien spared her from that by saying he had to go the bathroom. The boy turned into Mister Bug and Left through Marinette’s room window, hoping that she won’t be mad for leaving unannounced, while the girl turned into Lady Monarch, hoping that her boyfriend won’t get mad for locking him out of her room.

Author’s notes :

  * Eight pages and a little on my side. I was kind of hoping to get those bazillion pages in order to make a joke about it, but I missed the chance! :(
  * I really like the idea of champion Simon Says being a reality bender. If he was near Lady Monarch he could have gotten rid of her timer, but sadly he wasn’t. If you were confused about his ’troops’, I had him make all the people besides the gorilla turn into soldiers, all of them with weapons of course. They are also less single minded than before, capable of knowing when to stop.
  * In order for Volpina to not be seen when she went back to Adrien’s room, she used ‘Ghost trek’ to become invisible and not make a sound. Nino was so confused when she disappeared without a trace, only for her to pop out of nowhere a bit later.
  * Adrien getting a small peek at something behind his mother’s portrait is the way I want him finding the safe. Since Gabriel doesn’t have the tome, it would have been harder to find another way for Adrien to find out.




	38. Chapter XXXVIII: Rock ‘n roll ’n guitar solo!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings everyone!   
> I am here once again to thank you for the support you've given me in the form of kudos and comments. Thank you!
> 
> I hope that my work will continue to interest you as it is far from over! Also, if you have anything you wish to say, you are free to drop a comment down below.
> 
> Happy reading!

Adrien was currently sitting in his room, listening to his favorite singer, Jagged stone, as he was working out. Tikki was currently reading a Wikipedia article on his computer, not too keen on watching him exercise. After he was done he went next to her, and leaned in to see what she was reading. He beamed when he saw that it was the article about the rock star, making Tikki turn to him.

“You finished?” asked her, looking like she was ready to do something else.

“Yep! You know if you wanted to know more about Jagged you could have asked me.” said Adrien, seeing the kwami falter a little.

“Yeah, but… I don’t really like watching someone workout. I know that it’s important for a hero to be physically capable, but— There’s just something that turns me the wrong way whenever I watch someone do that. Maybe it’s the sweat…” said Tikki, hoping she was polite with the boy. She really couldn’t afford to be too forward with him, unless she wanted their short term partnership to be cut too short. The kwami could still remember what she and Lady Monarch talked about.

* * *

“I know that the ladybug is needed, I can even agree with the idea of my miraculous being active! But, please, can you lend it to someone that I can work with better! The boy was good with the easygoing Plagg because he was a bit head-strong and reckless, but that will mean disaster since I can be headstrong too! Can you not lend him the turtle miraculous instead? Wayzz can work with anyone.” said Tikki, looking at the hero, who was holding the earrings.

“If I add another new wielder in the mix we can run the risk of discord in the team! Having a compact group is better. Also, the turtle miraculous is not the most mobile. If I were to give that to him, he would struggle with moving around since a cityscape is not ideal for shield surfing.”

“Then give the horse miraculous to him. He would love the weapon and the horse gives its user increased speed in addition to teleporting!” pleaded the ladybug kwami.

“Tikki, why do you not want to work with Chat?” asked Lady Monarch, making her sigh.

“I’m… out of practice. Most guardians give my miraculous to creative free spirits, mostly girls. Having to work with a boy after so long is going to end up in disaster, I’m sure.” Tikki looked at Lady Monarch, the young girl giving her a smug face.

“Sometimes you have to work with people you don’t want to… Do you really think I wouldn’t change the team if I could?”

“No…”

“See! You agree! In this current situation you’ll have to work with an experienced albeit reckless fighter. However, I promise you that once Chat gets the ring back I will give the earrings to someone I know you will work well with! Until then, take this like an exercise.” The butterfly hero looked behind Tikki before beckoning her closer.

“I’ll let you in on a secret, ok?” Tikki nodded, curious as to what the girl wanted to tell her.

“The reason I know so much about miraculouses is because I have the tome. I know how all of you work and, if circumstances had allowed it, I would have given him something more fitting. So please, until he gets back his miraculous try to not butt heads with him. Please?” Tikki, slowly nodded, processing what she had heard. This girl was the one who had the guardian’s tome, and she was actually able to read it, which meant that she knew what she was doing…

* * *

“Oh! Well… I’m actually doing it for two reasons: I need to be a little stronger as a hero, and I seem to have bigger meals.”

“Bigger meals?” she asked confusedly.

“Yeah! Being a model requires me to watch my weight, but for some reason I’m being given bigger portions. So in order to still remain lean, I work out.”

“Oh! Ok then… could we do something else now, please?”

“Sure, let me show you my favorite song!”

* * *

Jagged was currently being talked his ears off by his manager, the old man demanding him to do a duet with that baby faced fake pop ‘star’, XY. To make matters worse the old man was shoving some unattractive perfume ad in his face and saying it was his album cover. The two of them started having this conversation ever since that fake musician took his number one spot. He wasn’t too discouraged however. He knew that killer music always wins in the end, something Bob doesn’t seem to get. He was very happy about the idea that he and Penny came up with though, hoping that that would shut the man up.

“Bob, Jagged and I had a thought. Its concept is modern, but it also respects Jagged’s own… rugged style!”

“Yeah! These glasses were made by this school girl, Marinette. The girl has some real talent. She totally gets my style! She’s going to design the cover of my new album.”

“A schoolgirl?”

“See, that’s just it: she’s the same age as the target audience! We could go right now and ask her if you’d like.” said Penny, aware of Bob’s extremely rude and disrespectful behavior.

“Ok… but just think about that duet with Mister XY!”

“Find that girl Bob!” said Jagged as he waved them good bye. After his room was empty he sat down on his sofa, sighing contently.

“Finally, some quiet!” The next thing he did was take his guitar and starting to rock out.

* * *

Bob and Penny asked around until they found the bakery, the two entering and asking about Marinette, who came down quickly when she heard that Penny was here. She was a little taken a back when she was greeted by a big man dressed in a vibrant pink shirt with gold. Marinette was getting a headache just by looking at him, her fashion conscious mind telling her to reprimand the man for not choosing a lighter pink that was easier on the eyes as well as to get rid of the stupid sunglasses and the clashing yellow ‘bling’. She looked to Penny, her eyes relaxing when she saw the clothes she wore, ones that were fitting, had a balanced combination of colors, and, most importantly, didn’t scream ‘Look at me!’ like the man’s did. Penny explained the situation to her and Bob (that was his name) said the deadline was the end of the day.

“So, you up to it?”

“Sure! I’m gonna go and get started!”

“Wait, wait, wait! One more thing! I brought this for you to get a sense of what we’re going for!” said Bob, taking advantage of Penny being a bit distracted by the girl’s parents, who were offering some cake or whatever.

“Huh… Ok, I could work with this!” said Marinette, going up to her bedroom to start. Bob and Penny left the bakery, the man having no idea about what the girl was going to do.

When Marinette was back in her bedroom the first thing she did was throw away the album to Nooroo’s confusion.

“Marinette, didn’t that man say you need to use a similar style to what he gave you?”

“He did, but that’s not Jagged’s style, it looks more like a perfume ad… Ok maybe not a perfume ad, but definitely something that doesn’t fit with his image and type of music.” said Marinette as she started working. Nooroo was still a little bit confused since he was used to the idea that you should do what is asked if you when given a commission. He didn’t press the issue however, knowing that his young mistress was able to know what somebody wanted better than the person themselves half the time. He floated down and settled on her shoulder, ready to hide in her hair if someone came up, content to watch his young mistress do her magic.

After she finished her work (putting the final touches as well), she left her home, hurrying to the hotel to show it off. When she arrived she crept into the room, taking advantage of Bob standing with the back to the entrance, and slinked her way in front of Jagged, who she made eye contact with earlier. She showed off the cover album to the rocker, smugly leaning on her cane as she took in his reaction.

“YEAH! This is what I love about you Marinette: raw, impulsive artistry! I can even smell the leather and sweat just radiating off this design!”

“Actually, you **are** smelling it! I concocted a special scent sticker for your album.” she supplied helpfully, sideeyeing Bob.

“What is this?! This is not what we agreed on! We can’t use this, it won’t sell worth a damn!” exploded the man, who snatched it from Jagged’s hands and shoved it into Marinette’s. Before Penny or Jagged could say anything, Marinette gave her calm rebuttal.

“ **Jagged** asked for my personal style when he could have asked you to give him whatever. If it’s not up his alley then fine, I will gladly leave it as a souvenir!” Marinette threw the cover to him, the rocker catching it and getting the girl’s hint, before she slowly limped away, even slower than usual in fact.

“Wait! Maybe we’ll reconsider.” said Jagged.

“No, we won’t that stuff—“ Bob was cut off by a tremor, all the people present feeling it. Everyone in the room was startled, except for Marinette, who smiled at herself for not breaking down right then and there, the girl going to a window and looking up. Outside she saw Chai climbing the building, the tremor no doubt being connected with the dent that was visible on the wall of the hotel. She closed the window and nonchalantly said ‘Villain’ to the three adults. She quickly limped to the door and opened it to leave.

“What the hell are you doing leaving?! Are you crazy, or just suicidal?” asked Bob.

“No, I’m smart, unlike you. One more tremor, a bigger one this time, would cause the building to fall, and that’s if the villain doesn’t use his ‘Cataclysm’. I’d rather not stay here knowing that, so buh-bye!” said the young designer, leaving. She made her way around the corner quickly, forcing her leg a bit, and then activated her transformation, twirling her cane as it became her magical one. Almost on cue, Mister Bug showed up, entering the hotel through the window, gaping at Lady Monarch when he saw her.

“What?! How did you get here so fast?! Wait. Are you actually her or just projecting yourself?”

“I finally fixed my camera. No more faded image.” she joked, making the ladybug hero laugh.

“What are you two doing? Aren’t you here to save us?” asked Bob, who was, together with Penny and Jagged, making his way out of the hotel. Lady Monarch peered unimpressed at him before her eyes widened, a smile forming on her face.

“Get them and everyone else out please.”

“Sure thing m’lady!”

With them gone she made a Fay as she said:

“A heroic rocker!? That will do! Fly my Fay, and give the amazing musician the power to make his music even more amazing!” The Fay quickly flew towards the rock star, and when he saw it he presented his guitar. There was no persuasion needed for him, the man and crocodile being overtaken by light, and changed, Fang turning into an amazing dragon and Jagged becoming Guitar Hero, a rocker dressed in an amazing armor. The top was covered by a shinny form fitting purple chest plate and he wore rounded shoulder pads with a large spikes protruding out of the middle. He also wore ripped jeans and metal boots. Finally, as the cherry on top, he wore black shades that looked like pointy butterfly wings. The hero and champion went to the attack, all of them leaving on top of Fangs back. When they reached the roof, Chai (using the black cat miraculous again), snarled at them.

“Of course you make a champion out of the person I want to kidnap!”

“You snooze you lose man! My lady gave me the powers to shred even better than before, so now I can surpass that kid XY and get even the likes of you to dance to my music. AWESOME SOLO!” said the champion, begging to play his guitar, making a musical field where everyone is dancing. The only ones not affected was Mister Bug (since the magic wasn’t directed at him) as well Chai, making the hero grimace. Mister Bug went on the offensive and Lady Monarch commanded Fang from her place, letting him breath his fire, just as Guitar Hero went down, activating his ‘Rugged solo!’ and pushing the villain away. Chai in return, ran away, planning to get another hostage. The heroes followed him to the Eiffel Tower, Lady Monarch grimacing as she couldn’t get a hold of Volpina, thinking that the girl probably overdid it again and was unable to help since she was tired. Chai arrived at the Eiffel Tower first and pounced at XY, resulting in an orange smoke cloud to form. The heroes and the villain looked up when they heard the voice of the cheeky vixen.

“<giggle> My goodness you’re easy to trick, or as Chat would say, my illusions are purrfect! <giggle>” Chai snarled at Volpina and decided to use his acid, spitting it at the fox hero, who in turn jumped and landed on Fang. Guitar hero activated his ‘Rugged solo!’ again and caused the villain to lose his balance, falling off the tower. Mister Bug dropped down as well and crashed into Chai, grappling with him and trying to get the ring off. Mister Bug and Chai activated their respective powers, Mister Bug getting a pair of oven mitts. The ladybug hero covered the villains hands with them, causing one to turn to dust, taking the ‘Cataclysm’ with it. The scorpion villain struggled against the hero as he was trying to stop him from taking the ring, eventually ending in him chomping on his shoulder, causing Mister Bug to let go. Mister Bug managed to grab the mitt and summon the ‘Miraculous ladybug’ fixing up everything and getting him to the ground safely. Chai managed to escape and Volpina quickly ran off to hide before her timer ran out. Guitar Hero and Fang were turned back and Lady Monarch popped out of nowhere and rushed to Mister Bug, who was sulking on the ground. She sat down next to him and gave him a side hug, the blonde returning it and seeing her fizzle out a bit.

“That was reckless… and yet so thought out! You remembered the fact that Lucky charm gives you the best chance of winning and so you summoned it to block out the Cataclysm… Tikki is already leaving her mark on you.” she said, making Mister Bug snicker.

“Would you believe it if I told you that it’s more of me feeling more responsible for my actions?”

“What? You? Never!” she said, dramatically feign shock. The two teens burst out laughing and then stood up. Mister Bug offered her his fist and she ‘bumped’ it.

“Pound it!” said the two at the same time.

“Bug out, milady!” Mister Bug left the scene and Lady Monarch turned off her projection, both of them turning back into their respective civilian identities and going on their way.

* * *

“So! You want it or not?” asked Marinette, who was sipping on a cup of tea.

“Of course!” said Jagged, ignoring Bob and shutting him up with the best idea he came up with:

“You know what; I think that any other record company would be just fine with the number two chart topper!” Bob grunted in anger and left, not taking the cover. Marinette watched the closed door after the man left.

“Does that mean you resigned?” she asked moving the cover about to show that Bob didn’t take it.

“Huh, I guess I did. I dig the flames on your cane by the way, you rock the style!” Smiling, Marinette gave the cover to the rock star and left him to his plans. Now that he resigned from Bob Roth records she knew that he had a lot of stuff to do. Besides, there was blonde down at the ground level who was probably waiting for her from the message she received. Since he would probably ask she figured she could tell him about the time she made the shades for the rock star. Or maybe she could keep that for a more special occasion...

Author’s notes :

  * This chapter is even shorter than the last one. I don’t like that, but I didn’t really know how to make him longer without padding it.
  * Chai is more of a chicken now. No matter how strong he may be, he runs away at the sight of all the heroes united. I wonder how effectual he’ll be if he keeps this up.
  * Next chapter we’re going back in time, specifically the one time Marinette was Jagged’s gopher.




	39. Chapter XXXIX : Dates and invisible people

Marinette was walking towards a café, dressed in a more unusual outfit for her: a cyan skirt (with pockets), a white sleeveless, lapel v-neck shirt and brown thigh high socks, the only thing that remained being the cyan ballet shoes. She also had a brown bag on her shoulder and her hair was let down, the figurative ‘beast’ having been partially tamed after two straight hours of brushing. Finally she wore makeup that hid her eye bags and had a light lipstick on. This fancy look was a bit at odds with the cane, but nevertheless she wore it. Marinette stopped in front of the cafe and looked inside seeing four things that caught her eye: first was the wall of muscle that was Adrien’s bodyguard, followed by the boy himself, who was wearing a generic dark grey blazer over the outfit she had gifted him and seemed nervous, then the people fawning over him from their own tables, and, finally, Nino and Alya at a table. _Little conspirators! They came to spy on us!_ thought Marinette as she entered the cafe and limped to the table where Adrien was.

“Marinette, hi!” he exclaimed. Sitting up suddenly to come and pull her chair for her.

“Greetings Adrien! And um… t-thanks for being such a gentleman.” replied the blue haired teen as she sat down, her cheeks slightly red.

“Y-You’re welcome!” he replied, his cheeks also red.

Before the awkward tension could continue the waitress arrived and gave them the menu and. Most importantly, letting the two relax so they could begin conversation proper afterwards, which they attempted to do.

“So… any new book you’ve been reading recently?”

“No. Just old ones… How have your piano lessons been going?”

“Really well! There were a lot of various melodies I could try to learn, but I’m currently trying to play, uh… Brahms: Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 2.”

“Ooooh! I wanna get to play it too…! D-Does it— Does it work on violin though?”

“I… don’t think so. It was originally on violin.”

“Bummer…” mumbled Marinette, as the silence settled back in. Not wanting it to remain prevalent (she kept hearing the people around her gossiping about them, and the ‘emotional lights’ that radiated envy were grating on her nerves). “Since we’re on music!” she began, getting his attention. “How about I tell you that story about when I first met Jagged.”

“Yes!... <Throat clear> Yes. That would be really cool.” agreed the blond boy, his cheeks red from embarrassment. _I really need to **not** fan boy here!_

* * *

Miss Bustier was with her class at the Mayor’s hotel, Le Grand Paris, for an educational experience: each and every one of these students would have to do a job for the day and give them their all in addition to writing a short report on how it was versus how they thought it would be.

“Do you have Marinette on your list Mister Bourgeois?” asked the teacher.

“It doesn’t look like it.”

“I’ll just have to do whatever’s left then. Hope it’s anything but trash duty.” said the teen.

“Well there are a few more responsibilities. Maybe you could help out in the ki—” the mayor cut himself off when through the front door entered a man with a giant lizard. The mayor, who didn’t want the dangerous and probably dirty animal inside his hotel was just about to walk over when he felt Marinette’s can shaft press on him slightly. He turned when she started whispering:

“That man you want to throw out is Jagged Stone. He’s a very successful, **very rich** rock singer and composer.”

“How did you know—”

“Know what you wanted to do? I’m good at perceiving what people want.” she explained, before he was allowed to walk to the rock star.

“Greetings Mister Stone! Welcome to Le Grand Paris Hotel! I am Mayor Bourgeois, the owner of this luxury establishment, in fact, the most luxurious in all of Paris. How might we serve?”

“How’d you think? I didn’t just come here to admire your lobby.” replied the rock star rudely.

“Jagged would like to check into your most luxurious suite.” explained a woman next to him, probably his partner or something of the sort.

“And Fang better get a **real** bathtub, not a tiny water hole like the in that hotel across the street.”

“We have everything you need Miss Fang. Even a state-of-the-art entertainment center!”

“Fang’s my crocodile.” said Jagged nonchalantly as he pointed at his crocodile, his emotional light expressing something akin to ‘how’s that not obvious confusion’. Marinette kind of wanted to laugh. Mister Bourgeois was a bit out of touch.

“Mister Stone, we have everything you require for your… Fang.” the crocodile growled in acknowledgement. “Would he, um… enjoy a bubble bath?”

“Crocodiles don’t like bubble baths. That dries their scales out! All he needs is the bathtub.”

“Understood Mister Stone. Over there is the reception, from where you would be lead to your luxury suite.”

“Thanks!” said the rocker before he, the crocodile and the woman walked past him. Marinette and Miss Bustier walked over after the greeting.

“Mister Bourgeois… you haven’t told Marinette what job she’ll be doing.”

“Ah yes, of course! Where’s my head today…? Marinette, you’ll be a gopher.” he said.

“Perfect! I’ll get right on it!” she replied.

* * *

“That doesn’t quite sound like you.” pointed out Adrien, taking a sip from his hot chocolate.

“Uh, what? Why not?” asked Marinette, taking a sip from her dark coffee.

“Alya and Nino warned me you’re a bit rough when they found out I had a crush on you.”

“Did they now…?” her gaze moved to the table they were at, but the two hid behind newspapers, thinking they were being sneaky.

“What are you… looking at?” asked Adrien. _Ok. Maybe they’re sneaky enough for Adrien._

“Nothing. Let’s just get back to the story.”

* * *

“So I’m a slave. That’s **exactly** how I wanted to spend my day: going around fetching cappuccinos to snobs and burning through all my pills to deal with the leg and a headache. Perfect!”

“Marinette!” exclaimed Miss Bustier, shocked and appalled by this sudden rudeness.

“Who’s going to be my ‘master’ for the day?”

“Jagged Stone.” said the mayor. Marinette’s sarcastic attitude dissipated, her face showing a genuine and excited smile as she pulled the mayor’s hand shook it vigorously.

“I take back everything I said! This is the best job ever; today will be the best day ever; and I will have the best report with this material!” she exclaimed as she turned around and limped towards the reception in order to learn where the rock star was going to stay.

Once she did, a quick lift ride and a bit of limping led to her arriving at his suite’s door. Without even knocking, she just opened the door and entered, being greeted by the woman from before.

“His assistant, Penny Rolling, right? You double as a bodyguard now?” she asked mischievously.

“Uh… I’m flattered you know who I am! And no, I’m not his bodyguard. I do keep snooping fans away from him, so I’ll be asking you to leave.”

“Not a fan! Well, I am, but I’m not here for that. I’m here for business.” Fang growled angrily, getting Marinette’s attention.

“Business’s not that bad. The Circus’s a business.” Marinette limped passed Penny and began to playfully spin her cane, the crocodile looking at it with great attention. “And they have nice sticks that you like to… Fetch!” she threw her cane and the crocodile was right on it, munching on it and bringing it back to her. “And you’re a good buy! A very good boy!” she said, affectionately scratching his chin and taking her cane back.

“Wow…” was Penny’s reaction.

“I didn’t know Fang fetched. That rocks! Are you, like, a crocodile whisperer?” said Jagged. Marinette pulled out a handkerchief and dried the drool off of the cane’s shaft.

“I’m your gopher actually. Need anything?” asked the blue haired girl as she pulled out her pill bottle and took one.

* * *

“There’s no way you were this nonchalant!” said Adrien.

“I was though. Pills and everything. The first impression is important so instead of pretending I’m some nice person I just act like me, no holding back.”

“What happened next?” asked the teen excitedly. _He’s eating this up and I haven’t even gotten to the good bits._

* * *

“Aren’t you a student?” asked Penny.

“A gopher? That’s perfect! I’ve been looking everywhere for these glasses shaped like the Eiffel tower and colored like the French flag!”

“And you haven’t found them yet.”

“They apparently ‘don’t exist’.” explained Penny.

“Leave it to me! You won’t be disappointed.” said Marinette before leaving. The blue haired girl left the hotel and went all the way to her house, climbing the stairs to her room, where she rummaged for some something, that something being an old pair of glasses. With the base for the sunglasses in hand, she began to work on them with various materials and tools, removing the lens and using cardboard and plasticized paper to create the Eiffel towers. She attached them and, after some painstaking yet quick work they were done in the colors requested. She placed them in an appropriately sized box and quickly left the house, getting back to the hotel. Something was off though… The reception was completely empty. Despite the bad feeling she got she entered the lift to get up. The closer she got to the floor where Jagged Stone’s luxury suite was the more noise she heard… It sounded like some form of struggling?

Suddenly the lift’s cable snapped and Marinette fell on the floor! She slapped herself **hard** before a panic attack could begin.

* * *

“Ouch! That’s why your cheek was red and you cr—”

“Please stop. We’re in a café.” Marinette cut him off.

“Right, sorry!”

* * *

Nearly as suddenly as the lift fell, it stopped.

“Is someone… in there?” came Chat Noir’s voice from above. Marinette was doing some breathing exercises to calm herself down.

“…Y-Yes! I’m in here!”

“Princes?! Don’t… worry! I’ll get you out.”

While Chat was stuck at the elevator, Ladybug Jester was running after Jagged Stone. The purple haired man was running ahead of the villain and, with great speed and acrobatics, was dodging all of his attempts at slowing her down.

“Darn it man, slow down! I just want an autograph!” joked the villain when he went through a door. He went through the same door and found himself outside, the place being completely empty. “What the…?” he mumbled before he got his legs swiped from under him. Ladybug Jester punched backwards punch backwards, expecting the champion to try and take his earrings, and his fist hit something. The villain rolled away and back to his feet, not seeing anything. “Seriously, Evanesce?! I thought I was running after the Stone Guy!” he said, trying to pick the champion’s position through the sound of her steps. Too bad she was completely silent though, Ladybug Jester having his feet swiped from under him for a second time, this time however he was ready to roll away, calling out his ‘Lucky Charm’ the moment he got back on his feet. The object this time was a grenade.

“Bombs away!” he said, throwing it. The very moment it hit the ground it exploded in red smoke the dissipated relatively quickly. “Magnificent!” he said as he removed his helmet. The bomb’s smoke had gotten stuck to both him and the champion, painting her red and making her visible, revealing her simple bodysuit with the mask, as well as the bowtie and fake collar (the only thing sticking out). He was just about to attack the champion and take the Fay object when the door behind him opened, Chat Noir and Marinette coming through it.

“Deflect to the left and keep moving!” said Marinette, Chat Noir doing just that, deflecting, getting in closer, then hitting the villain’s head. The villain moved back before felt hands grab at his ears, holding one down, only one earring getting taken.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” he exclaimed, and from his yo-yo a bunch of ladybugs emerged, clearing all the red caused by the smoke, and getting him his earring back. The villain immediately jumped away to leave.

“Is Jagged ok!” Evanesce nodded.

“Good. Thanks for distracting him for me. I’m leaving the princess in your care!” said Chat before leaving the champion and Marinette alone.

“…!” Evanesce waved

“Sabrina?” The champion nodded enthusiastically, in a flash of light becoming Sabrina again, sans glasses.

“Can’t speak?” Sabrina shook her head.

“Right… Wanna see Jagged Stone?” she asked, Sabrina nodding again, more enthusiastically.

* * *

“And after all that I got the glasses for Jagged! He was so impressed he actually paid for it!”

“No way!”

“Yes way! I actually informed him of my ‘job’ as a designer and that’s why he asked for the cover!”

“You have to introduce him to me! Please?” said Adrien.

“Definitely!” replied Marinette. After that the two spoke about other stuff as well, before going to Marinette’s house to watch a movie together.

Author’s note :

  * A tiny bit of the past mixed in with the present. I also tried a more unique presentation. Tell me what you think!
  * I squeezed as much substance out of this, especially since Pixelator was particularly bad in my opinion (no hard feelings)
  * Speaking of…! I reworked the plot of Pixelator and combined it with the bit about Vanisher from Antibug.
  * I also placed this before the events of chapter XXXIV on the timeline.
  * I really liked writing this since it allowed me to go back to a time when good ol’ Chat was present. If you noticed he just ran after Ladybug Jester. That’s because he was so sick of him, wanted to catch him and take his miraculous. That’s the state he was in during Ladybug Jester’s random appearances.
  * I also wrote this because we are nearing getting Plagg back!




	40. Chapter XL : Chefs, critics and food

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings! It's Critical_Damage again. I am here to thank you all again for your support in all of this! You are the driving force behind the continuation of this work! That's about all I have to say... Happy reading!

Marinette was currently in her house, pacing, Nooroo following her around, reassuring her.

“It’s going to be alright Marinette! You know Chinese!”

“Yes, but I’ve never talked with a native before! What if screw it up? Or what if he doesn’t like me? I said that I would accompany him, but I still want to make sure he likes me, that way I could learn more about Chinese culture and him… other way around.” Nooroo gave the girl a flat stare, making her shrink a little. Nooroo never liked Marinette’s change in personality after the accident. She stopped interacting with people in real ways and became so fixated on information, reading books, asking personal questions (regardless of how rude they were), hiding behind bad jokes and saying extremely rude and brash statements just so she could push people away, as well as see their reactions. The only thing that saved her from the spiral of social life destruction was Alya, who stubbornly befriended Marinette, and even more stubbornly managed to curb her bad tendencies. Not completely, but it was still better than her young mistress’s lonely and bitter self. The fact that she got over the initial problems with the cane also helped mellow her back to her normal self. Still, there were times she would just revert back to this uncaring person that she had been last year.

Marinette turned to the door when she heard the doorbell, letting Nooroo zip into her jacket. She opened the door and looked up at her great uncle, cursing her shortness. He saluted her and she bowed, unable to really salute properly with her cane.

“(Greetings and welcome to our home great uncle Cheng! My name is Marinette! These are for you!)” she said in the man’s language as she held a bouquet in front of her. Wang entered the house and looked around as he took the bouquet. He started to pluck the petals form the flowers, to her horror. Marinette rushed and asked what he was doing, and he responded.

“(Thank you for the flowers Marinette! Your kindness has inspired me and I shall use them to improve my dish.)” That made Marinette relax a bit, letting herself drop down on the sofa next to the man and give him a side hug, happy that her act of kindness was appreciated. The two talked for a bit, waiting for the car that was going to pick him up and drive him to Le Grand Paris where the competition was going to be held. When the car arrived they excited the apartment and entered it, continuing their conversation about Chinese etiquette when being a host. They arrived quickly and microphones and cameras were already shoved their way. Alec made his way to the man’s left side, presenting the show and asking him about his dish. Marinette translated the question to him, fully expecting him to give her the answer to speak. He shocked her however when she turned to the camera and responded.

“My dish is: Celestial Soup!” he said. Alec exclaimed his enthusiasm about getting to tastes Cheng Shifu’s legendary dish. She asked if he wanted her to accompany him and he told her that he didn’t, since cooking needs no words. She was still taken aback by her great uncles ability to speak in her native language; She’d have to ask about it later. She entered the hotel and saw the judges: Mayor Bourgeois, Jagged Stone, Marlena and Adrien. The boy noticed her too and walked over. He asked about why she was here and she explained: her great uncle was the most amazing chef and he entered ‘The World’s Greatest Chef!’ competition to win, bring honor to his lineage and his country, as well as have his dish featured in the hotel’s menu. Adrien responded that he too knew Chinese, and that he understood the honor thing, saying that Chinese people had an honor code that governs their society. Marinette knew as well, from the many discussions with her mother as well as the discussion she had with Cheng Shifu. Adrien had to go back to the table as the filming was about to begin, but not after giving his girlfriend a good luck kiss on the cheek for her uncle’s sake. Marinette stood by Cheng Shifu as the man nervously watched the judges taste his soup. All of them made delighted faces and were about to give their scores when there was a loud crash. Marinette and her great uncle turned towards the source of the sound, seeing that the wall was broken through and Chai was standing there, showing his jagged teeth to them all. Adrien got up from the table and reached his girlfriend, helping her escape faster with everyone else. Chai didn’t pay them any mind, only focused on destroying everything that was in sight. Marinette, Adrien and Cheng Shifu parted ways, the two teens going to hide separately, saying that it would be harder for the villain to find them.

Adrien hid inside an empty room, letting Tikki come out of his hoodie.

“Did Chai seem more animalistic to you Adrien?” asked the ladybug kwami.

“A bit… he usually likes to talk everyone’s ears off with his dramatic speeches. But lately he’s been talking less and less… Never mind about that! We’ll find an explanation about it later! Tikki! Spots on!” Tikki entered the earrings and the magical light encompassed his body as he spun twirled, making his suit and mask appear. Mister Bug left the hiding place and hurried towards the villain.

* * *

Marinette hid in an empty room of the hotel, letting her kwami out.

“Hey, Nooroo? Was it just me or was Chai acting like a beast instead of a man?” Nooroo frowned a bit at the question, before answering.

“I think so… do you think this has to do with him having too much power?”

“It may be… We’ll think about this later! Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” Nooroo flew into the brooch activating it and making it sprout its butterfly wings. She twirled her wooden cane after her suit appeared and then leaned on her magical one. She searched for a near champion and then settled on a good candidate.

“An artist, whose time to shine was stolen from him by the villain, and also wants to make others happy and safe! A good recipe for a good champion.” She said as she made her Fay.

“Fly fast my Fay, and give this unmatched culinary artist the power to cook this villain into submission!” The Fay flew out of the room and went after its target, finding Cheng Shifu in a room close by its mistress’s. It entered the chef’s hat and the butterfly symbol appeared.

_“(Greetings, Kung Food! I am Lady Monarch! I can give you powers that will serve your cooking skills well, but for that you must promise to bring back the black cat miraculous, the ring that the villain wears!)”_

“(Yes, my lady, I shall do the honor of ridding this city of the villain!)” The white-yellow light enveloped his form and changed him into Kung Food. His hat now looked like a cloud and he wore a sleeveless, orange kung fu uniform. His skin was also blue and his hair was spiky and yellow. His overall look was a little scary looking, noted Lady Monarch, but she didn’t voice any concerns for her champion’s preference. Kung Food looked into his bag and noticed that there were many things he could use. One stuck out to him however, and he took it out.

“What is this?” he asked as he looked it over. It seemed like some sort of spoon, but it was completely flat and had a button on it.

_“(That, my good champion, is a special tool you will use to help you: I have given you the power to make followers out of every adult that ate from your soup, meaning that the judges are all going to help you. Press the button to ‘activate’ them and turn them into your loyal followers!”_ Kung Food did as he was told and went in the direction of the fight, catching Mister Bug back talking to the villain.

“Oh come on! It’s no fun if you don’t respond to my insults!” he said as he dodged yet another attack from the villain. Before Chai could make another move a red blur appeared and dashed into him, sending the scorpion straight into a wall. Followed by the speedster were three others. A large man dressed in a cheese inspired costume, a woman dressed in a white and red outfit, one that resembled candy, and a man dressed in a blue outfit. The woman and man started shooting arrows at the villain, candy ones and ones that looked like swordfish. The cheese man stomped his foot on the ground and made a cheese wall appear behind the villain, blocking of his escape and forcing him to dodge around the projectiles. The speedster, who was now standing still and so his chili pepper inspired outfit could be seen, pulled a pepper from his belt and threw it at the villain, which exploded and caused the villain to shriek and make everyone cover their ears. The villain spat acid at the cheese wall, melting it into a pile o’ goo, and jumped over the gooey mess. Mister Bug was picked up by the champion who, together with his followers, created a human pyramid that allowed the speedster to move them allow and follow the scorpion.

“Kung Food! Hello!” said the champion to Mister Bug, saluting him. Mister Bug saluted back and then took the yo-yo from his waist, answering a phone call.

“Hi! Have you noticed that Chai is acting more like an animal than usual?” asked Lady Monarch.

“Yeah! He’s very irrational and just wants to break stuff. He’s not even trying to fight us, and no Cataclysm either. Do you have any idea what that’s about?”

“No, but I believe it may be because he’s using two powerful miraculouses. The miraculouses are mostly used by separate people but there were rare times when a person was forced to use more than one. Since the jewels are not meant to be used that way there are usually some sort of consequence, I just have no idea what, since, as I said, there were rarely used together. I was hoping that Tikki knew something about it.”

“Nope! Tikki did point it out, but had no idea about it either. And why would there be consequences now? This is not the first time pungent breath used the scorpion and black cat together!”

“It isn’t, but it may be that the effects took a while to appear. The scorpion miraculous is documented to have caused madness as long as it was worn. If we factor in the fact that a black cat user has the instincts of a cat—“

“—we get a villain that is unable to stay sane and acts like an animal!” Mister Bug looked at the road ahead and noticed that they were on the roof and that Chai was going to leave. He threw the yo-yo and wrapped its wire around the villain’s tail as he jumped, pulling him back down. Mister Bug jumped of the human pyramid and summoned his ‘Lucky charm’, getting a cat bowl in return. He had absolutely no idea what to do with it. He looked over to Kung Food, who ordered his followers to keep the villain from escaping. The champion pulled out two things, a can-non and a grenade filled with his Celestial soup.

“Place bowl on the ground! I will make good food for kitty!” said the champion to Mister Bug, who placed it down and watched as he shot a bunch of cat meat into the bowl. After that he broke the grenade and let the soup pour down over the food. He pulled out a white flower and placed it in the middle, making a very nice-looking dish for the villain. He got up and whistled loudly, getting everyone’s attention and making Mister Bug understand.

“Hey Chai, does the kitty want a snack?” The spotted hero pointed down to the bowl, and Chai ran towards them. He stopped in front of the bowl, opening his mouth to take a bite. He didn’t however, smelling the contents. He growled at the hero and champion, who slowly backed away, frowning when the villain suddenly stopped and started to look around.

“Chai? You with us nemesis?” asked Mister Bug. In his response he got a smile and a shout of ‘Cataclysm!’ The villain dropped his hand to the ground and then jumped away, leaving the spotted hero scrambling to get the bowl and repair the damage before the hotel fell on the people below. He succeeded and ‘Miraculous ladybug’ fixed up everything before anyone got hurt. Mister Bug’s earrings gave a warning beep and he said his god bye to Kung Food, who turned back into Cheng Shifu. The man looked up and followed the butterfly as it flew away, to his company coming the judges that helped him when he was a champion. He was saddened by his failure to help his lady, but he quickly forgot about it when Marinette tackle-hugged him, the girl happy that he was safe.

* * *

“We apologize for the interruption viewers, and welcome back to Word’s Greatest Chef! Earlier we were about to give our scores to Cheng Shifu, and mine is ten out of ten for the amazing taste and texture. What are your opinions fellow judges?” asked Alec.

“I give it a ten! I can practically taste the passion and effort that was put into it.” said Adrien.

“I also give it a ten, your soup was absolutely splendid!” said Mayor Bourgeois.

“I give it maximum as well. From one chef to another, your mastery of flavor is magnificent Cheng Shifu!” said Marlena.

“Well then Cheng Shifu, you’ve got a perfect score which means that your soup will be featured in the hotel’s menu and you are officially named… say it with me folks!”

“World’s Greatest Chef!” uncle Cheng couldn’t be more happy, tears forming in his eyes. Marinette gave him her congratulations as well as a handkerchief, which he used to wipe the tears away.

Author’s notes :

  * I didn’t change Kung Food’s appearance at all because I loved it in cannon. I also used it to put a little spin on the champion; He looked scary but he was actually very pleasant!
  * I really liked Marinette’s great uncle, he’s such a nice man. The reason I made Marinette multilingual was because I wanted her to have that little interaction with him.




	41. Chapter XLI : Gaming and competitions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greetings! Here with another chapter, this time my version of Gamer's debut. Let's see what happens when the world of video games comes alive! During this time we also get to see the couple growing closer as Adrien learns a bit more about Marinette's past.
> 
> Happy reading!

Marinette was currently walking back to school after the classes were finished. The street was quite empty, allowing Nooroo to fly next to the girl, the kwami happily munching on berries. The two arrived in the empty school yard and the kwami entered in her black sweater’s pocket as she made her way in the library to meet up with Alya to research that boring term paper. She already had an idea of what she was going to do: Naturally occurring chemical processes; and she had planned a way to convince the blogger that she came up with the idea instead of Marinette. When she entered the library however, she was greeted with everyone looking at Max and Adrien play an ‘Ultimate Mecha Strike III’ match, some of them enraptured about the game, while others talked about other stuff, the young fashion designer picking up that Prince Ali was going to come to Paris. Marinette watched the match to the end, smiling happily when Adrien managed to beat Max with his quick reflexes.

“What’s going on? If I knew that you we’re having a gaming day I would have come running!” joked Marinette, making the people there chuckle a little.

“These are the try-outs for the soon to be coming ‘Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike III Tournament’, and Deputy with Blondie are gonna be Francoise Dupont’s representatives this year!” said Lila, pointing to the two boys, Adrien waving to Marinette and slightly staring, probably because she wore a sweater over a turtleneck.

“Hey Marinette, do you want to try your chances too? I’d gladly give up my spot if it means that the college wins the tournament!” said the blonde, making Marinette giggle.

“Thanks for the offer but I decline. I may be the best ‘Ultimate Mecha Strike III’ player, but I’m busy!” she said, making the room go quiet. Max frowned and walked to her, holding both controllers.

“’the best Ultimate Mecha Strike III player’ you say… Let’s make a bet then: whoever wins between the two of us will get the spot at the tournament—“  
“Wow there horsey! Look, I like bets as much as the next guy, sometimes a little too much, but that doesn’t mean you have to lose your chance at going to the tournament. Plus I said I was bussy.” _Accept my decline and stop bothering me!_ she thought, frustration beginning to bubble to the surface.

“I am 99% certain that I will win! The fact that you are prolonging also means you think loss is a possibility.” said Max a bit cockily, making Marinette smile confidently as she snatched the other controller from his hand.

“You asked for it spectacles!” she said, walking around him and taking a seat. Adrien looked at her, his smile slightly faded as he gave up the seat for Max. The two teens began the match and Marinette looked bored, even yawning, as Max was beating her.

“Child’s play.” she said with a chuckle when he was just about to win by scoring the last hit. The blue haired teen turned the tables on him by dodging and hitting him mercilessly.

“And now, a quarter super plus heavy kick, and Flying Hyper Storm! Triple head combo, Marinette! Easy win!” She landed the final hit on Max, the boy staring at the screen dumbly as she looked smugly at him, enjoying her win. She wondered whether she was too harsh when Alya came and placed her hand on her shoulder. The room was split on whether to congratulate Marinette on her win or to just dismiss it since she was a bit of a jerk going about it. She decided to make it up to him, as she turned and offered him her hand.

“…Good game… I’m not taking your spot, so don’t worry.” she simply said, and Max, to her relief, accepted her hand.

“I kind of had it coming… I shouldn’t have persuaded you into deciding to play like that.” he said with a chuckle. She chuckled as well, not wanting to point out that she actually took out her frustration on him. “So, do you want to take the spot?” asked Max.

“For the third time: I’m— or rather Alya and I are busy with a paper on Naturally occurring chemical processes!” she said with a relatively controlled, but clearly exasperated, tone.

“Wait, what? When did we agree on what the paper was about?” asked Alya.

“Don’t you remember? Last time we talked I agreed with you to do something of the sort, since your generally good with research and I’m specifically good with chemistry.”

“I… guess I remember something like that.”

“Actually, the Library is about to close!” said Mister Damocles. Marinette sighed: of course her luck would go that way. After the whole ordeal was done she went back home, making sure to reschedule with Alya, who talked to Marinette about doing something to smooth out her social skills ( _Again!... It’s not like I’m bad at socializing. I’m just different_ ). As she was making her way home, she was surprised to find Adrien run up to her. The surprise quickly faded when she saw his face and ‘emotional light’, guessing what the topic of discussion was going to be about.

“If you are going to reprimand me for how I acted, please don’t. Alya already did that.”

“… Then can you at least tell me what that was about?” asked the blonde curiously.

“…Spite… ever since the accident I’ve became very spiteful. It’s actually because of Alya’s stubbornness that I went back to my nicer self… I don’t know how I would have turned out without her…” That was a lie, she knew what her life would be like if there was no Alya: lonely and cold, with only a few, if any, friends, and those only staying because they pitied her or because they were just as spiteful as she would have become. She sometimes even considered that Alya was pitying her, but she never wanted to believe it: no man or woman on earth would be so stubborn just because they had pity. “As much as I find her meddling annoying, I’m happy that she didn’t give up on me…” she finished off with a smile, making her boyfriend smile a little as well.

His smile dropped however and he decided to bite the bullet and ask the question that would make or break their relationship.

“Can you tell me about the accident?” Marinette stopped in her tracks, frowning slightly at the ground. She looked up at him with the most vulnerable expression he had ever seen on her face as she intertwined her hand’s fingers with his. She began to lead him to her house, and so he sent a text to Nathalie and father that he was doing something very important. When they arrived she sat him down on the couch and started making tea, Miss Cheng most likely realizing what was happening and going downstairs to give them space. After the tea was done she handed him a cup, sat next to him, and got her legs up on the couch, resting her head and on his shoulder and letting out a watery sigh. She was just about to begin talking when the two teens heard screaming a few blocks away, in the direction of Adrien’s home.

“Seriously?!” she whispered under her breath. He had the same feeling, knowing that he would have to leave so he could go after Chai. She was ahead of him and told him to go check on his father and make sure he was ok. He left, promising that he would be back as soon as possible. Marinette downed her cup of tea (she didn’t like boiling the water so it wasn’t hot) and went to her Garden sanctuary, locking herself in. She transformed into Lady Monarch without the preamble and didn’t twirl her cane like she preferred. She stood there for a few moments, searching for a champion then made a Fay.

“Loss is often frustrating, but in some cases it can push people to do better. Let’s see if this is the case! Fly away my little Fay, and give this player a well deserved second life!” The Fay flew away and found its target walking around aimlessly, but still away from the screams that were heard moments before. It landed on his glasses, making him gasp as he felt a subdued warmth from the butterfly hero’s thoughts.

“Greetings, Gamer! I am Lady Monarch! I can give the power to bring your avatar to reality, and use it to win one of the trickiest games ever created: defeating a real villain. Just remember that you must bring back the black cat ring for me!”

“I suppose I could try, my lady… Game on!” he said, the white-yellow light encompassing him and making him bigger and more angular, until it dimmed to reveal Gamer. The champion was actually in the cockpit of his giant robot, which was modeled on his preference from Ultimate Mecha Strike III. He went towards the sound of battle.

* * *

Adrien ran out of the bakery, going in the nearest side alley he could find. He let Tikki out, who was munching on a macaroon. She ate the rest and then stood at attention watching the boy sit on the pavement, sighing.

“I really wanted to hear her story about what happened, Tikki! After that I could have helped her get past it by providing support… Chai just had to ruin everything with his stupid villainy-shtick.” he grumbled the last part, looking down. Tikki floated over and patted his head reassuringly.

“Have patience Adrien! The sooner you defeat Chai or make him retreat, the faster you can get back to Marinette. Besides, she seemed a little shaken up, maybe having all this extra time will help her find her balance so she won’t break down. In the meantime you can get rid of Chai and Stingg, saving the day!” her reassuring words seemed to work, Adrien getting up and looking around to make sure no one was going to see him. Tikki zipped into the earrings when he issued the magical command. The pink light covered his body, making his suit and mask as he twirled. After that Mister Bug jumped out, swinging towards the battle with his yo-yo. When he arrived he noticed the other champion that came from the opposite direction. He swung high and landed on the robot, which started shooting at Chai, the villain running and dodging in the hopes of getting close to it.

“Hey dude, love The Ultimate Mecha Strike III look! Tell milady that when she decides to choose me as her champion that she should give me similar powers!” A door opened on the side of the robot’s triangular head and Mister Bug saw that Max was inside, dressed in a green and black suit and wearing a pair of butterfly shaped glasses of the same color. He was currently using the controls of the robot to keep the villain at bay, but made the time to beckon him inside. He entered and marveled at the witchcraft he saw: the cockpit was larger on the inside than on the outside, and had a secondary control panel facing backwards. Mister Bug climbed in and pressed the red button in the middle. This action made the robot shine bright, blinding the villain and preventing him from advancing. When the light went away the robot was much more different, looking like a combo between MX-01 and NAD03, Adrien’s favorite choice. The new robot had the attributes of the other two, demonstrated when the champion and hero made the robot pull the its tail off and use it as a sword, swinging it with elongated arms. The villain however got lucky, and managed to grab on before being batted. He spat his ‘Acid’ and made the sword snap in two. He avoided the mech’s shot and landed on its body, disintegrating it with ‘Cataclysm’. Mister Bug caught Gamer and used his yo-yo to drag them to a nearby roof. Down on the ground level, a sickly yellow orb floated in front of Chai, who touched it and created a large Scorpcat robot. Both Mister Bug and Gamer grimaced, as Chai got something that didn’t even fit the playable characters. The hero and the champion ran away, Scorpcat coming after them. The two lead Scorpcat to the stadium, arriving there before the villain’s mech, giving the heroes enough time to plan.

“Ok, so Ultimate Mecha Strike III has the ‘Respawn point’ glitch! Think you can bring your robot back?” asked Mister Bug. In response he got a no.

“I don’t like that glitch! It takes way all the fun out of building up your robot! I have no—“ he cut himself off When the yellow butterfly symbol appeared in front of his face. After a few moments he resumed talking. “My lady says that you may be able to get the Lucky charm to help… She says that your more direct approach might influence it into giving us an experience orb!” Mister Bug smiled, summoning his ‘Lucky charm’ and getting a floating orb with black spots in return. The two touched it and it exploded into energy that formed their robot, and just in time for Scorpcat’s reappearance. When the villain landed in the stadium he was shocked to see a robot in front of him, one that looked like a combination of a butterfly and ladybug. Lady Butterflybug wasted no time and went for the attack, its pilots maneuvering it with expertise and using it to punch and kick Scorpcat. The enemy mech responded with its own series of attacks, but it was not to be, as Lady Butterflybug shot an energy blast to stun it, grabbed its arm and ripped it, causing the entire mech to disintegrate. Chai ran away after that and the hero and champion were unable to catch the slippery foe. The two decided to at least do a pose as the mech was used up for ‘Miraculous ladybug’. Mister Bug left quickly, saying that he had some important stuff to get back to. Gamer turned back into Max, who was happy that his lady trusted his gaming instincts enough to ask for his help, even if the outcome was still failure.

* * *

Adrien rushed back inside the bakery and found Marinette in her room, sitting on the chaise-longue and twirling her cane.

“Hi.” she said when he closed the trap door. She stopped twirling her cane and placed it on the floor next to her, patting the empty space of the chaise-longue. Adrien got the message and sat down next to her without saying a word. Marinette began to talk, telling him about what happened a year ago, in the last month of that summer vacation. She explained how she saved the two girls from death and how she got injured, needing a cane to walk as a lot of dead and infected muscle cells had to be removed.

“I’ve been using a cane for only a year and a bit, but it already feels like it’s been forever. The year before, I mostly walled myself in, not caring about people, steering them away by being rude or overly apathetic and curios. I thought that by not caring I could avoid being kind. ‘My kindness was the reason I needed this blasted cane!’ I told myself. For some time, it was easier: I would feel up most of my time with studying ahead, reading, playing videogames and doing a lot more fashion projects, anything to keep me occupied really. I had kept myself from having real connections with people, and learned to understand them from the way they acted, the only friend I actually knew how she acted from her personally being Alya. It was actually because of my coldness that I was able to expose all of Lila’s lies, since I was too disconnected to actually care, only hating that my idiot classmates were buzzing around her like bugs would a light bulb. It all changed when Alya finally found my weakness: I fell once because my original cane gave out and broke down, Alya being just off to the side nearby. She helped me calm down and brought me back to reality, something that even my parents had trouble doing. After that, we… really became friends. She was like my better side: I was very off-putting and she was friendly. She helped me remake the connections with the class and I even ended up class representative, using my ability to tell what people wanted without asking them in order to make the class better as a whole… There are still times when I still seem uncaring, a jerk out there for my own gain and nothing else. I can’t change that… because it’s become part of who I am. It was so easy for me to not care, especially since I was, and still am, fuelled by spite. I **hate** that I need to use a cane and nobody else has to and I **hate** that I ended up with it as a result of helping somebody else. You know Chloe didn’t even care that I saved her! No ‘thank you’, no ‘Get better soon’ card at the hospital, NO NOTHING! AND WHEN I CAME BACK TO SCHOOL SHE ONLY STOPPED BULLYING ME, SHE DIDN’T EVEN APOLOGIZE FOR ALL THE TORMENT SHE PUT ME THROUGH IN THE PAST! I SWEAR I’M GOING TO SQUEEZE THE LIFE—“ Marinette was suddenly hugged by Adrien. She looked around realizing that she was no longer sitting on the chaise-longue, but standing. The next thing she realized was that she was crying, so she let herself cry, returning her boyfriend’s hug tenfold and letting her head rest on his shoulder as she sobbed.

After that cry, she calmed down, the two teens falling asleep from emotional exhaustion, Marinette’s from having to reveal her injury’s origin as well as her broken personality, and Adrien from having to hear all of that, his heart aching at the prospect of his girlfriend being so unhappy and damaged.

The next day, the two of them woke up feeling warm and happy, only for that to turn into anxiety when they realized the position they were in. The two of them were in Marinette’s chaise-longue ( _Did we sleep together?!_ ) and she was resting her hands on his chest, his arm being draped over her, and their legs being somewhat tangled, probably would have been more tangled if his girlfriend didn’t have problems with her right one. After a moment for them both to feel embarrassed they sat up, took turns showering, brushing their teeth ( _Nathalie must have come to bring my toothbrush here._ ) and then they ate breakfast together. After they went to school, and got it done with, came the time for the tournament. Marinette gave him a good luck kiss and he went with Max to their positions. They ended up winning, obviously!

Author’s notes :

  * When I first sat down to write this I thought it was going to be short, but then the ideas came pouring out and everything flowed naturally. At least I think they did.
  * Marinette is officially revealed to have House tendencies. They are less pronounced now, but they were full in force before.
  * Alya’s role in Marinette’s life is to keep her grounded into reality as well as try and weed out her bad tendencies. She’s basically what Wilson is to House, just more effective because she’s more determined (Insert Undertale joke here!)




	42. Chapter XLII : Class photos and jinxes

Adrien, Nino and Alya were walking with purpose, the three of them looking for a certain blue haired girl that was missing exactly on this special day. Today they were going to have this year’s class photo. The whole ordeal was supposed to happen earlier, but Adrien’s sudden appearance at Francoise Dupont made the schedule go on vacation. Now they had to have the photo in classes since it was too cold to have them outside (they couldn’t really make the photo in their cold weather clothes obviously). To make matters worse, Marinette was missing, in spite of the fact that she came to school early, earlier than anybody to be specific.

As a result, the three teens went on a search for the girl before it was their class’s turn. First they checked at the bakery, which is how they found out that she left early. Sabine and Tom didn’t know why she did, as the young fashion designer only babbled about needing to clear her head and nothing about an actual location. Nino mentioned that there was cafe she frequents. (“Something ‘Quantic’, or whatever the name was…”) They checked there and she was still nowhere to be found. Looking at the time, the three teens noticed that they only had about an hour left before it was their turn, enough for them to get back if they hurried, but not enough to keep looking for Marinette. Their salvation came in the form of a very brilliant idea from Adrien.

“Hey, isn’t there an app that helps with tracking someone through their phone?” he asked, making Alya smile widely.

“Agreste, you’re a genius! If we were both single I could kiss you!” said Alya, offending her boyfriend and making the blond blush in embarrassment.

“Hey, I’m helping too! I came up with the idea of checking the café.” In response he got a quick kiss on the lips from Alya, the girl looking back to her phone.

“Thanks for reminding me babe, you deserved that!”

The solution to their problem was, in true Marinette fashion, completely outside the box. They hurried back to school since that’s where the app pointed them to. They made their way inside and found the girl in the last place they considered looking, as well as, ironically, the one that made most sense. Alya dismissed the comment Marinette made to her parents, forgetting that the girl never opened her mouth to give useless information. Whenever she wanted to ‘clear her mind’ she would come to the library or stay in her Garden due to these places being quiet.

The teens found Marinette sitting on a chair in her favorite spot in the back corner, her legs propped up on the table. She looked exhausted, judging by her eye bags, which she didn’t hide at all. Alya, with a heavy heart, woke her up. The girl looked up at her and then promptly closed her eyes, placing an open book on her head, annoying Alya.

“Ok, now I feel less guilty. Mari, you need to wake up, our turn for the school photo is in ten minutes!” she said, making Marinette remove the book.

“I wouldn’t do it even if you kissed me… Let Juleka take my spot. She keeps raving about some photo jinx, so giving her my spot would probably break this supposed ‘curse’.”

“I don’t think it works like that…” said Adrien from where he was, startling Marinette. She gave a weak glare to Alya, who smiled triumphantly as the girl put her feet on the ground and got up. The teens went back to the class, managing to arrive barely on time because Alya applied the concealer for Marinette. When they arrived, everyone was positioned once, twice… three times, the photographer (Vincent) having a hard time finding a good place for Ivan. Eventually he did, having to move not only him, but a few others around as well. Finally satisfied, he tried taking the picture, only for the battery to die.

“Oh, I don’t believe this! I’m sorry, I have to go and fetch another battery. Nobody move!”

Juleka excused herself to the bathroom. After a couple of minutes Rose excused herself too. Marinette looked at camera, frowning. _This is ridiculous!_ The young fashion designer tapped Lila, who just so happened to be right behind her. The class representative bent down positioning her ear to hear what the blue haired girl had to whisper.

“Problems on class morale radar. Juleka thinks she’s jinxed and might not come out of the bathroom. Go help Rose!” Lila suddenly grabbed her stomach and groaned.

“Oh, I shouldn’t have eaten that spicy polenta… I need to go to the bathroom, it’s an emergency!” she ran out of the room, Mister Damocles and Miss Bustier not having time to say anything, not that they realized she lied. Even the class seemed to be tricked, nobody starting hushed conversations about how she just lied. Marinette was impressed: Lila not only spoke a good lie, but she actually used her ‘talent’ for good.

In the bathroom, Goth was crying softly, Pinky by her side, patting her and offering reassurances. In front of them stood Lila, cross-legged, unsure of what to do, until an idea came.

“Why don’t you try to ignore it? Concentrate on something else.” she blurted out, making the two opposites look at her quizzically. She continued. “You like Rose, right?” that comment got the Goth going and made Pinky even pinker. The two of them looked at each other, as if realizing something, then smiled, Pinky resting her head on Goth, the other girl resting her head on Pinky’s, their hands intertwined. The nice moment was quickly ripped away, as a loud crash was heard, making Lila go on alert. If she had her fox ears, they would have probably twitched all over the place picking up the sounds of distress. Before making a move to leave, a Fay came in the bathroom, flying right over her and diving at Goth’s glove, not giving Pinky the chance to let go. As a result, something very interesting happened, something that Lila didn’t consider as a possibility until now: the butterfly symbol appeared on both girls’ faces.

 _“Greetings… Aiqing… I am Lady Monarch!... Excuse me, but this is completely new. I’m championificating two people at the same time! <throat clearing> Alright, your goal is to retrieve the scorpion miraculous, his bolo tie, as he is not using the black cat. Considering this opportunity I will give you the experience of a lifetime!” _The two girls cheered and the white-yellow light engulfed them, combining and reshaping the two. When the light went away Lila was greeted by a bigger-than-an-adult sized light blue skinned woman. She had four arms, shoulder-length, pointy, platinum-yellow hair that had the tips colored purple. She was dressed in dark purple pants, white leg warmers, black ballet flats, white-with-silver-lines-forming-a-V bodysuit and on her top hands she wore a pair of white fingerless gloves, the left one having a yellow eight pointed star symbol on it. Another thing that glued Lila’s attention to her was how gorgeous she was. _And I thought… Nevermind!_ The champion left the bathroom, a confident smirk on her lips. Lila stared after her until she was gone, sighing dreamily.

“Too bad they’re both taken, you know, being in a relationship and all that!” said Trixx, ruining Lila’s fantasy with harsh reality.

“Ugh! Maybe I should advice tell Lady Monarch against doing this sort of thing… It’d be hard for me to concentrate with that… eye candy helping me… Trixx. Let’s pounce!” Lila flicked her necklace before her kwami entered, blue flames changing her as she pirouetted, making her suit and mask appear. Volpina ran out of the bathroom and jumped down to the courtyard, where students were running away from Chai, the champion skillfully dodging and attacking in a playful manner, making the villain snarl in annoyance. The villain noticed her and went to attack. She made her flute appear, but instead of moving to dodge and then attack she was too enamored with her lady’s current champion, making her heart skip a beat and the flute extend to hit the scorpion and launch him away from her. Her flute became normal again and she made a test. Thinking about something besides the champion, when it garnered a strong emotional response, the thought made the flute extend quickly, like letting go of a compressed spring. A little rudimentary compared with Chat’s version, but there wasn’t really any point in thinking about that. The fox hero and champion fought off Chai, the former using her new trick to make maneuvering easier and to hit the scorpion villain from a larger distance. Aiqing, in turn, used their enhanced strength, speed and reflexes to their advantage, using them to dodge like an acrobat or in combination with their four arms to hail a storm of quick consecutive punches as well as double handed grapple throws. Chai left due to being overpowered. The situation was over and done with quickly because of that, so quickly in fact that Adrien didn’t have enough time to get away from the crowd and transform, meaning that he couldn’t repair the damages done. Fortunately the damages weren’t too major, the only thing that was more destroyed being his classroom, the champion and vixen hero doing a very good job at minimizing the damage.

Volpina ran up to the champion before she would ran away, calling out to her.

“Wait, I didn’t get your name!” The champion turned, smiling sweetly and responding in a matured voice.

“Aiqing. Happy to have worked with you Volpina! Too bad that we three didn’t get the miraculous though.” Volpina was enraptured by their voice, a perfect combination of Goth’s deeper voice and Pinky’s high pitched one. The two stared at each other for a bit, aware by the dispersing crowd (Adrien and Marinette watching the two and moving slower on purpose), before Volpina broke the ice again.

“So… You don’t seem to have changed back despite the fact that eight minutes have passed. What’s up with that?” she asked, sitting down cross-legged. The champion copied her and then responded.

“Lady Monarch said that she would give me the experience of a life time. She wasn’t kidding, this feels… do you know how you feel when you complete a puzzle?” Volpina nodded, tail swishing about. “Well, it’s like that! I feel complete, full, I feel what Rose and Juleka feel, and yet I’m not exactly them. I’m kind of my own person while also being this… fusion of the two, exactly like a puzzle: all the pieces are individual, but they come together to make a whole!” Volpina’s years dropped a little, her tail stopping its movement.

“Thought so…” she said. Aiqing eyed her patiently, understanding what made the fox sad.

“You’ll find someone out there, not me obviously, but… I can tell you with certainty that there would be someone that will make you feel whole!” she place a hand on her shoulder, making her look up. “Keep looking!” advised the champion before turning into a bright light that became smaller, dimming to reveal Goth and Pinky snuggling together, the two sitting in the position that Aiqing was in. Volpina got up and left, Lila later joining the two lovebirds as they made their way back to class.

* * *

Back at the class, Vincent finally took that blasted photo of Miss Bustier’s students, Rose happily exclaiming that the curse was lifted as she jumped at Juleka, who held her up as they spun happily to everyone’s shock, except for Marinette’s, who was happy that her hunch about the two girls’ emotional lights was true. In her opinion they truly were meant for each other, just like her and...

After the photo was finally taken the class was sent home, but they all decided to go to the ice ring, as they planned before the attack. Marinette wasn’t really able to enjoy it to its fullest, but she was happy enough to watch, Adrien, Nino, Alya and Lila watching as well, all of them drinking hot cocoa.

Author’s notes :

  * When I saw Lila act around Adrien in cannon, or around any boy really, I noticed a lack of actual attraction. She was mostly neutral, not really being affected by the good looks and only going after Adrien because Marinette wanted to be with him. This leads me to believe that she’s not straight, and even if she is, this is my world, where time crawls at Gravity Falls speed, there are new miraculouses, and our main character is a watered down version of House in addition to her normal, cannon, personality.
  * She’s not into guys at all in this fic by the way, similarly to how Juleka and Rose are not in to them as well.
  * Speaking of Juleka and Rose, their shared champion name, Aiqing, is Chines for love (Ai) and please (qing).
  * Kitty, Deputy, Blondie, Pinky, Goth. Lila is bad at names in this. She came up with nicknames so she could at least differentiate between everyone else. This is similar to her old personality, where she wanted all the attention at her, only remembering the names so she could make herself seem like a saint. Now that she doesn’t want attention, she’s not bothering with names. At least the nicknames are somewhat nice, since that’s what she uses in conversation as well as in her head.
  * This chapter was a tiny bit more focused on Lila since, to me, it seemed like I kind of used her as Volpina most of the time.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> {Information breach detected}  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> {Fixing breach}  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> {Breach Fixed}  
> {Go to MShorts.ch-33 for further details}


	43. Chapter XLIII : Puppets and TV stations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greetings everyone and welcome back to another chapter! Today Lady Monarch makes the (questionable) decision of turning a kid into a champion. Everything will turn out alright, probably?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings! I'm here to thank you again for your support, your comments and kudos! Yup... So I was thinking of adding my fanfic version of the 'Miraculous in New York' movie in addition to the season finale. We'll get to it when we get to it though.
> 
> Happy reading!

Marinette and Manon were playing in the former’s room with her specially made puppets. The teen was glad she decided to make them, not only because small versions of the heroes and villains looked cuter, but also because she used them to keep Manon away from her Garden. Even if the butterflies were magic and no one could make the connection between her and Lady Monarch through them (Nooroo assured her of that), she still didn’t want to take any chances, meaning the garden was off limits (not to mention the butterflies aggressively protective nature).

So, the two girls were playing with the old version of Volpina (the villain one), as well as an earlier champion, Timebender. Manon was acting as the heroes (Timebender and Chat), while Marinette was acting as the villain, and Lady Monarch herself (she really couldn’t help it).

“Hello again Timebender! We haven’t seen each other in a long time! Care to join Chat and help him get Volpina’s necklace?” asked Lady Monarch

“Yes my lady!... They do say it like that, right Marinette?”

“Yep! It’s a way of addressing that sticks with you even after you turn back to normal. I can’t really call my lady anything else other than ‘my lady’ even if I try.” her response made Manon giggle, the small girl finding it funny how a champion couldn’t really call Lady Monarch by her name even if the situation required it.

“Alright then Chat, my lady, what’s the plan?” asked Timebender

“Well, I could try to use my Cataclysm to trip up Volpina, then you can run in and grab her!” responded Chat.

“Not ideal, unless we want to break down the whole building she’s standing on!” responded Lady Monarch. The ‘building’ which Volpina was standing on was actually Marinette’s desk, the doll waiting with her predatory glare for the heroes on the floor to make a move. The Lady Monarch doll was standing on a stack of books, indicating that she was a little ways away from the fight, just like the real version was most of the time. The heroes eventually came up with a plan of action: Chat would creep behind Volpina, who will be distracted by Timebender running in circles and throwing stuff from down below. The plan progressed without a hitch, Chat managing to push Volpina of the building, right down to where Timebender was waiting. The champion managed to capture the villain and so Chat came down and removed the necklace.

“Yey! Heroes won! Heroes won! That was a lot easier than what usually happened though…”

“Well, that’s because real life is a bit different! Volpina mostly stood in the shadows, fighting from afar. The heroes had no choice but to try to make her good, and they succeeded!” said Marinette, pointing to the hero Volpina doll. Manon frowned a bit, then turned to Marinette.

“I don’t think Volpina’s turned good. She is mostly late to the fights, and that’s if she comes at all! Super heroes don’t miss fights!” Manon was a little bit angry now, making Marinette cringe a little. She knew that Volpina was delegated to night shifts, when most people slept. She was actually surprised that Lila looked so awake all the time and wasn’t cranky. _Maybe it’s a fox thing!_ she thought to herself. Before Marinette could come up with a good excuse for Volpina, Nadja entered her room. Manon ran to her and gave her a hug, the two of them saying goodbye and leaving, Manon borrowing the Lady Wifi doll (with a little help from Marinette with calming down the argument between Manon and Nadja). Now that favor done, Marinette was able to leave the house. If she was fast enough she would be able to catch up with Alya so they could go to that movie. So she did! She made her way out of the bakery and towards the station, not really minding the cold weather as she arrived, seeing Alya and waving at her.

“Aren’t you cold in those? I thought you would put a few more layers considering how cold it is out.” Marinette didn’t really respond, realizing what the blogger meant. She didn’t feel too cold so she put on a smaller number of layers than usual. She was sure there was no problem though. As the two entered the subway, Marinette noticed that a certain blond was on board. The teens discussed about what they were doing, Marinette finding out that Adrien still had some stuff to do and that he couldn’t join them (even though he really wanted to). The teens went off their separate ways at the other station. Marinette and Alya arrived at the cinema and went inside, the young fashion designer going pale when she saw that there was a hero alert at the local TV station. She quickly excused herself to the bathroom and hid inside one of the stalls.

“Why now?!” she whisper-shouted in frustration.

“You could still see the movie if you’re fast enough! There are usually a lot of ads so you should be fine.”

“I suppose… Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” the kwami entered the brooch, the magical energy that came out transforming her into Lady Monarch, who twirled the cane that became magical and then leaned on it. She stood there, searching for a possible champion before a smirk appeared on her face.

“A little girl who wants to save her mother from the evil scorpion monster! The emotions couldn’t be any stronger!” she said as she made a Fay. The magical butterfly was sent away with its command:

“Fly fast my little Fay, and give this little heroine the power she needs to help her mother and banish the evil scorpion!” The Fay did as it was told and flew away, quickly finding the girl in question cowering behind an armchair. The Fay entered the child’s wand and the butterfly symbol appeared before the girl, who smiled and made the biggest starry-eyed expression she could muster.

_“Greetings, Puppeteer! I am Lady Monarch. I can give you the power to control most of the puppets your friend made you!”_

“And I can use them to win, my lady?”

_"Yes! You can win by saving your mommy, but in return—”_

“I will get the bolo tie! I know!” said Manon, letting the white yellow light transform her.

_“Look at how smart you are~!”_

In Manon’s place stood Puppeteer, who floated of the ground and marveled at her pretty white and red princess dress. Besides that she also had a wand of the same color combination and her double ponytails had red at the tip of them. She turned around when she heard someone, noticing Volpina, who was holding three of Marinette’s dolls.

“<gasp> What are you doing with the dolls?! Give them here!”

“I was about to give them to you anyway, although I am having second thoughts considering that attitude!” Volpina stopped a few steps away from Puppeteer, who didn’t come any closer, the butterfly symbol appearing.

_"Puppeteer, Volpina is a friend. F-R-I-E-N-D! I need you to play nice, or else I will choose someone else! All right?”_

“Ok, my lady… Sorry for being bad to you Volpina.”

“Thanks for apologizing, now let’s get this party rolling!”  
“Yay!” Puppeteer got the dolls and activated every single one. They flashed with light and summoned the real champions: Lady Wifi, Rogercop and Climatika, all of them acting eerily passive.

“Are they ok?” asked Volpina, who noticed that they weren’t moving, or blinking.

“They’re my dolls and I can use them to play!” said Puppeteer, the champions echoing her movement and voice. Volpina was a little creeped out, but didn’t say anything. Instead she and the champions went towards the source of the commotion, where they saw Chai crawling around, waiting. Volpina immediately summoned her flute and jumped up on the ceiling light, positioning herself just above the villain. The champions were positioned in various places around the room, ready to strike, Climatika floating on the wind from the east, Lady Wifi standing on her ‘Speed-up hover’ and Rogercop hovering with his jet boots. Volpina made a chopping motion and all the champions began attacking. Unfortunately, Chai was somehow ready for them. He maneuvered around Lady Wifi’s and Rogercop’s shots, making them shoot each other, then had a really hard time with Climatika, whose winds were too power full for him to move. Volpina was just about to join in when her flute rang and she picked up.

“Yes, my lady?”

“Try to use an illusion.”

“But isn’t that a little early?”

“It is, which is why Chai won’t expect it!”

“Ok then! You’re the boss!” Volpina made an illusion around the whole room of all the champions coming back to attack. This confused the hell out of Chai, who was sure that that wouldn’t happen.

Climatika continued her assault and used the winds to drive the champions closer. In the meantime Volpina hid to transform back and let Trixx recharge by eating a chocolate mini cake. After that she came back to see that Chai had managed to get rid of the illusion, but was now dealing with the real champion, who managed to free themselves. The scorpion villain was out numbered, but not unmatched (at least that’s what he thought). He used up his ‘Acid’ in a smart move, spitting it at the ceiling light, leaving Volpina with no high ground. The scorpion gunned for her, dodging all the projectiles thrown his way, and ended up missing when the vixen hero activated ‘Ghost trek’. The scorpion snarled and jumped way from everyone, towards a hole in the wall. From there he pulled out Nadja, who was held down by a bent metal bar.

“Nobody move!” and nobody moved, all very aware of Chai’s enormous physical strength, a strength that could easily rip the woman in two. “Volpina, you will give me the fox necklace! And the champion, whoever it is, will give up and back off!” All the champions backed off and Volpina came forward. “What are doing? Take off the necklace!”

“If you want it so bad then come down here and take it. No tricks, no bluffs, no nothing.”

“<growl> Fine!” He gently placed Nadja down and dropped to her level, slowly making his way over. He suddenly turned when he heard squeaking, seeing Camouflage help Nadja escape. His attention was brought back to the heroes after they resumed their attack. Chai knew that this fight was not going to end up with him on top, so he quickly left.

* * *

Puppeteer, who came in afterwards, relaxed when she saw her mother, and then went to hug her, glad that she was safe, the reporter marveling at who was the champion. She was a bit terrified as well, since Manon being a champion confirmed that Lady Monarch didn’t mind putting children in danger. The only good thing was that she had given her daughter the power to fight from afar. Puppeteer heard her wand beep for a seventh time and so she released all the dolls from the magic spell, sending all the champions back to where they were transported from: Alya from the cinema, Roger to his car, Aurore back to her part time job and Sabrina back home. Puppeteer turned back into Manon, the white butterfly flying home. Volpina entered the room they were in, the dolls held in her arms.

“Well, thanks for the help Puppeteer!” she said ruffling the girl’s hair. “I believe this one was yours?” she said, handing over the Lady Wifi doll. The girl took it and gave the vixen hero a nice smile.

“Thank you for helping me too!... I’m sorry for thinking you were bad.”

“You thought I was bad?”

“Yeah! You sometimes didn’t show up at the fights so I thought you were still bad.”

“Nah! I’m clean from Pointy-tail’s corruption. Nothing but heroism for this fox! Speaking of heroism, I gotta get these back to where they belong. Bye!” Volpina left the mother and child alone and Nadja was sure of one thing as she hugged her daughter: she would never look at her daughter’s fascination with toys the same way again.

* * *

Marinette was back in her seat, waiting for the remainder of the ads to end. Alya was a bit confused about what happened in the seven or so minutes the young fashion designer was gone, only remembering bits and pieces, as well as a tiny girl’s voice. She decided to forget about that and focused on the movie when it started, enjoying the popcorn and soda she bought for herself, while Marinette ate her nachos with spicy sauce.

Author’s notes :

  * The nachos are actually inspired by real life. I ate nachos at the cinema and loved them.
  * Puppeteer didn’t have much of a change in terms of design and powers. I only reversed the colors and gave her the ability to summon the champions so they wouldn’t need to come to her.
  * Volpina has a nickname even for Chai. No more calling him master.
  * Don’t worry about Adrien being left out, as he will come back for the two parter that’s coming up next.




	44. Chapter XLIV : Princes and toys (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!  
> I'm powering through! I'd rather not mention why since you probably already know (limited time outside is stifling creatively, that's all I say).   
> Thank once again for the Kudos and comments! The knowledge that my work is interesting feels me with DETERMINATION!   
> On a related note, here is some good news: I know exactly what my next fic shall be and I am currently working on it! Also 'Among Us' is a lovely critical thought trainer, which is good since some level of critical thinking will be involved in the future of this fic! That is all for now!
> 
> Happy reading!

Marinette was walking towards the school, the teen grumbling about being late when she heard a sneeze. She looked inside her dark blue blazer and saw Nooroo shivering. She hurried towards a more private spot and gently took the kwami out of her pocket.

“Are you ok? You look sick…”

“I feel sick… <cough> Do not worry about me…”

“’Phenomenal’…! School can wait, I need to heal you. Good thing the tome said something about how to treat kwamis. I’m going back to get it.”

“N-no… Go to school! I’ll survive…” Marinette looked at his shivering form. “I w-will be fine… r-really…”

“After this we are going straight home…” Marinette placed him back in her pocket and hurried to school. Of course, since Chai had decided to be annoying, she ended up late (she had to use the Hero App to get Mister Bug on the case), missing out on science class. When she arrived, she noticed that Rose was a little under the weather, Lila and Juleka talking to her and trying to make her feel better. Marinette frowned thoughtfully, deciding to walk up to her. She was stopped by Alya, who placed a hand on her right shoulder.

“Hey, girl? Rose is a bit sad after what happened earlier. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go and ask. Feed your curiosity later, ok?” asked Alya.

“Or how about I feed it right now? You were there, what happened?” asked Marinette.

“<sigh> Miss Mendeleiev was teaching and then she smelled Rose’s perfume when she used it on her letter. She confiscated both of them.”

“A letter… Was the envelope pink?”

“Yeah, how’d you—“

“Love letter! That’s the only time she uses pink envelopes and perfume. And considering the present goings-on I’d say it’s for prince charming, a.k.a Ali, the one I heard her talking about.”

“But Rose likes Juleka! Why would she write a love letter to him?”

“There are more times of love Alya… Maybe this one’s more platonic, admiration maybe. Thanks for telling me.” she said as she turned back to go to her desk. Alya followed her down and sat next to her, frowning.

“What?” she asked as she pulled out her handheld.

“You didn’t even try to help. You just wanted the info!”

“That’s because I can’t. Normally I would go to Mister Damocles, explain the situation and get back the thing that was confiscated. Now though, I don’t have the authority and I don’t want to boss Lila around! I give her pointers, but only if the situation requires it or if she asks for them. No more, no less!” she said as she cleared a level, the game’s victory fanfare going off. She continued to play until the teacher came. During the lesson she and everyone else heard a cute sneeze. They all turned towards Adrien, the source, who sneezed again and apologized. Everyone turned back to the lesson, only Marinette lingering on the distinct difference between the first and second sneeze.

* * *

After school was done Marinette made her way towards Adrien, noticing in her periphery vision that Rose looked very happy as she ran from Lila and Juleka, another letter and what looked like a toy in her hands. The next thing she saw was Adrien looking towards Rose and then running after her.

“Well that was rude! We’ve been barely dating and he’s already looking for a new girl.” she thought aloud sarcastically. With really nothing to do and a sick kwami that needed nursing, the young fashion designer went home and locked herself in her garden sanctuary.

“Here you go!” she said as she placed Nooroo down on a pillow in the middle of the garden. A few butterflies landed on it and crowded around him, giving him warmth as Marinette went back to her room to get her tome. A few minutes passed, and she came back up with a handheld gong and mallet. _Good thing I decided to take these with me!_ She thought to herself as she opened the tome to a page that was written with what looked like a blue pen instead of brush. She liked this part of the tome, since there were a few more pages written with the blue pen and then everything was blank, leaving room for new discoveries and information to be recorded in it. Getting back to the situation at hand she began to heal the kwami, hitting the gong in a rhythmic motion and speaking the incantations inside her head. After a few minutes Nooroo stopped shivering and looked more at peace. She patted him affectionately and picked up the pillow, placing it on her desk. After she found a nice location for the gong and mallet —right at the base of the table where she kept her fencing gear— she went back down to eat something, leaving her cinnamon roll to sleep peacefully with a bowl of berries next to the pillow.

* * *

Adrien was having a **very** bad day.

First, the stupid scorpion attacked in the morning, making him miss a whole period. To make it worse, it rained and Tikki got sick. He couldn’t do anything though since she told him that he had to find the guardian or a healer. He knew that Lady Monarch was the guardian, but he would need a ton of luck to run into her, not to mention that he would have to reveal his identity. He considered asking his girlfriend, hoping that he could make her believe that Tikki was a small critter (he didn’t like lying to her, but he had no choice). That idea almost went out the window during class when the small kwami sneezed, making her suspicious of him. He considered the bright side: he could tell her that Tikki **was** an animal and that he didn’t want to get caught; and if she asked about sending her to a vet, he would say that he did and it didn’t make help.

Adrien was not ok with lying, especially with his girlfriend. He would be fine though, guilty, but fine... just this one time. Marinette was currently approaching him, all he had to do was tell her about Tikki and hope— _Where’s Tikki?_ He looked thorough his bag and didn’t find her there. He couldn’t have dropped her, could he? He thought back to when he was in the library and remembered that his book bag was sideways on the floor. He didn’t think to check, too busy with thinking of a way to get Tikki better. Not finding her in his bag, he looked around seeing a bit of red in Rose’s hand, realizing that it was Tikki. His blood ran cold as he raced after Rose, and he was horrified when the girl managed to get in a bus and leave. He had no idea where she was going to go, so she went back and met up with Lila, the only one that was walking home and talked to Rose, and asked her about the ‘red toy’.

“Oh, that? She told me and Juleka that she found it in the library and that she was going to give it to Prince Ali. What about it?”

“I borrowed it from a friend and I accidentally dropped it! Where is prince Ali staying at? If Rose said she would give it to him, then he must be already in Paris, right?”

“Yeah! He’s staying at the mayor’s hotel. I didn’t say anything to Rose, but I don’t think she would be able to get close enough to him. I mean, he’s royalty! He’s constantly surrounded by reporters, guards, fans and what have you. There is no way she’s going to slip through all of them and get to give him the toy and letter. She’s much more likely to succeed if she sent them by mail to his room’s address. What do you think?... And he’s gone.” She looked at the empty sidewalk and smirked, looking down at Trixx, who was snuggled up in her scarf.

“I think you really know how to talk someone’s ear off! <snicker>”

“That’s what I’m best good at Trixx! Now let’s find a more private place to transform. Rose has no idea what she has with her! Neither does Adrien, but we’ll be ignoring him.” Lila continued walking, looking for a place where she could transform.

* * *

“Now?” asked Alix.

“No, the weather isn’t right. It needs to be more like the afternoon of yesteryear.” responded Fluff.

“’the afternoon of yesteryear’… You mean... warmer?”

“Yes! Now, you have already turned into Bunnix, but you haven’t already properly introduced yourself!— No, wait! — You haven’t properly introduced yourself **yet**!”

“There ya go! You did great! Here’s a carrot!” Alix gave a carrot to her cute kwami, who nibbled on it. Fluff ate about half until she responded.

“Thanks! Time is hard, you know? You think that it’s linear, but it isn’t. It’s more like a bunch of big webs that keep growing and changing, or like a big ball of timey-wimey… stuff. And seeing all of it makes it really hard to keep track of everything.”

“I can imagine! Having everything that happened, is happening and could happen inside your head can be quite disorienting. I mean think of the conversations! If had them I would be unable to focus on someone talking and still know what they said and will say in a possible future conversation. Also I think that you have a hard time because you see your future self speaking the way you do, right?”

“Yeah! I can see myself talking about the tomorrow of yesterday all afternoon!” she said as she continued nibbling on her carrot.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Mr. Kubdel’s room, the man was sneezing. He reached for a napkin to blow his nose then went back to writing. He was still trying to decipher the text written in that scroll Marinette had. There was something about the darned writing that didn’t agree with him. Stingg said that the words were enchanted so they would become unreadable if they were visible on a piece of paper, or in a photo, or something of that sort. That also included translated text, which would turn into the symbols from before. To top it all off, the translation edited itself out of a person’s memory if it had been visible on a piece of paper and the person looked away. And so, Mr. Kubdel was stuck with unusable information regarding the miraculouses. He tried once using invisible ink but it didn’t work out so well, as the effect of the scorpion miraculous turned it back into normal ink. Maybe he could try voice recording?

Stingg always got a kick out of watching the man stubbornly trying to translate the text and then forget it. He actually wondered what that girl did with her text. Judging by the fact that she didn’t ask for repeated translations of the same passages, it seemed that she was writing it down with that invisible stuff. Another thing that he found funny was how his powers affected his user. He rarely got sick, but when he did, the sickness passed to the wielder, keeping him fit in case he or she wanted to transform. He really liked that feature, especially since he felt that Tikki and Nooroo were sick, probably from the cold rain… _That’s not right…_ He reached out with his senses, realizing that yes, it was right! Tikki was currently away from her miraculous, which meant she was away from her wielder. Stingg smirked and then floated down in front of his wielder to tell him the **good news**.

Author’s notes :

  * This is part one, if you think that it’s short, don’t worry. Part 2 will make up for it! (I hope!)
  * I wrote some Fluff here (the kwami). I like the idea of her learning to speak normally, but failing since her head is full of everything about everything. Her explanation of how she has all of time inside of her head may remind you of someone.
  * Part 2 will feature the elephant, as well as the end of Chai-the-cat.
  * The last part I wrote to explain why Mr. Kubdel hasn’t been using the information he got access to from Marinette. I like the tome to be this magical book that can only be translated by a guardian, but has a loophole which allows a normal person to decipher it.
  * The page written with a blue pen was from Wang. He added the bit about healing a sick kwami as well as a few other pages. Marinette will probably add her pages as well, placing more information inside the unfinished tome. (I like it to be unfinished since it strengthens the theme of the disappearance of the Order of the Guardians)




	45. Chapter XLV : Sick kwamis and elephants (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!  
> This is the second part and conclusion to this mini story ark, as well as the conclusion to season 1! Onward to season 2 next week. For now, read on and see the appearance of the elephant!
> 
> Happy reading!

After Adrien heard where the prince stayed at, he bolted. Leaving Lila there was a bit rude, but saving Tikki was the priority right now. He ran back to school where his car waited for him and he gave the Gorilla some money to drive him towards the hotel instead of back home. The large man didn’t take it, but was swayed by the explanation that Adrien needed to do something very important there and he would call his father. As the car started going he did call his father.

“Hello! Father, I have to do something really urgent before going home!... At the hotel… What do you mean there is a villain attack?!” Adrien checked his phone and sure enough, there was an alert on the hero app. Adrien told his father that he still had to go there and help his friend, who accidentally took something from him, get out of there. He quickly ended his call, cursing his luck. When they arrived he instructed the Gorilla to wait for him. He could already hear the sound of distress somewhere up.

* * *

After his son ended the call Gabriel sighed and then coughed.

”First he lost the ring and now he probably lost the ladybug kwami, that’s the only thing that makes sense right now. No matter! If the heroes need help then I will happily provide… Enough observing...” Gabriel was standing in the middle of a dark room, a single window opening in front of him with a fan shape to let light in. A blue kwami flew next to him.

“You know what to say! Say it, say it, say it!” Gabriel chuckled at that.

“Duusu… Spread my feathers!” The magic words said, the peacock kwami was sucked into the miraculous. The man lightly tapped his foot, making the magical energy flow from the ground up and envelop him in his magical hero suit.

“Hm… I feel a young girl’s need to protect the person she idolizes the most! How about we help her, my Jianhuren?” He pulled out a feather and turned it crimson before sending it out of the room. “Float away little feather, and give the prince and princes a knight to protect them!” The Jianhuren floated through the window, carrying itself on the wind, and sometimes against it, to arrive at the intended destination.

When the Jianhuren landed on Rose’s bracelet, he felt another presence sharing the telepathic realm, one he realized was Lady Monarch. Not knowing what to do about this, he let her take charge.

* * *

Marinette came back up to the garden to see if Nooroo was better and she found him inside the bowl, eating berries. She made a little ‘Aw!’ sound as she sat down at the desk.

“Are you feeling better my cinnamon roll?”

“Way better! These berries are delicious.” responded Nooroo, as he placed another one inside his mouth, making Marinette giggle at the cuteness. The nice moment was interrupted by the hero app alarm. She looked at her phone and grimaced. Chai was after Prince Ali for some reason. The young fashion designer got up and went to the middle of the room, Nooroo flying after her. Marinette pressed the button to open up the ceiling with her cane, letting light in and exciting the butterflies.

“Ready?” asked Marinette.

“Ready!” responded Nooroo.

“Well, in that case… Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” The butterflies in the garden flew towards Marinette and then dispersed, leaving Lady Monarch, who twirled her cane until it turned into her magical one. She stood there for a moment, searching for a guardian, and found the most suited person at the moment.

“A girl who adores the kindest member of royalty and wants to protect him! A good incentive to be heroic.” she said as she made her Fay. “Fly away my beautiful Fay, and give this adoring girl the power to protect her prince charming!” The Fay did as it was told and flew towards the hotel. Once there, it zeroed in on the girl, not paying attention to the feather going in the same direction.

When the Fay landed on Rose’s perfume bottle, Lady Monarch felt another, weaker presence sharing the telepathic realm. The presence shied and gave her the permission to proceed.

_“Greetings, Princess Fragrance! I am Lady Monarch! I see that you want to protect your friend as well as the prince you admire. In order for you to do that I am willing to provide you with a better weapon than the perfume bottle you are using. Besides that I believe that my peacock companion has something to give as well.”_

_“ My name is Paon Royal, and as a matter of fact I do! I can provide you with an ally, a knight that will protect you and the people you are trying to help.”_

_“Remember that, in return, you must retrieve the black cat miraculous!”_

_“ And, if possible, the scorpion one as well.”_

“My lady and sir, you will not be disappointed!” said Rose, letting a white-orange light overtake her. The light spilt in two, yellow and red, the yellow one turning Rose into the champion while the red one made her guardian. When the light dimmed Princess Fragrance and a large white knight were visible, the knight wielding a shield of the same color as its armor and smoke coming out from his visor. Princess Fragrance was dressed with pink puffy pants, light green leggings, a white shirt with puffy shoulders and a rose on it, pink opera gloves and a white mask. Finally, her hair was light green, and her eyes were emerald green. Princess Fragrance sent the knight to fight the villain while she escorted the prince and his chaperone.

* * *

Adrien walked inside the hotel after he made sure to find a disguise (he still wanted to help, but his identity couldn’t be known). He managed to put together a costume from a poncho and a red biker helmet. He walked around the inside looking for the prince and Rose, hoping to find Tikki with them and then put on a fake enough voice so Rose couldn’t recognize him as Adrien and make the connection between him and Mister Bug. He followed the noise and came upon the sight of Chai, who was only using the cat miraculous this time. The villain was dressed in a black leather jacket with pointy metal shoulder pads, a pair of leather pants, the belt acting as the tail, a pair of black gloves with spikes on the knuckles and, finally, a cat helmet with neon green ‘eyes’ and open ‘mouth’ that showed a neon green interior and four ‘teeth’, two at the top, two at the bottom. He was currently fighting with what looked like a Darkblade follower, only this one wore a white armor and used a metal cricket bat. Adrien didn’t want anything to do with the fight (at least not yet) so he made his way further into the hotel and took the lift, taking advantage of the champion and villain being distracted. The next thing he came across was the following : Prince Ali running inside the lift when the doors opened. He crashed into Adrien, both boys falling to the ground as the lift doors closed, taking them further up. The two untangled from one another and stood up, both exciting the elevator. When they did Tikki sneezed, bringing herself to Adrien’s attention.

“I believe this one is yours?” asked Ali as he gently took Tikki out of his jacket’s exterior pocket.

“Yes! I was looking for my pet for so long, thank—“

“That won’t work on us kid!” said a deep voice, a small grey kwami coming out of another pocket from the prince’s jacket. The kwami was grey, with white covering his belly and lower part of the mouth. Besides that he had a trunk and big ears with pink on the inside of them. Finally, his ancient eyes were colored yellow.

“His name is Shaan. He and Prince Ali can help <cough>.”

“They can?” asked Adrien, giving up on continuing the charade.

“Yes! Shaan is the kwami of Cohesion. He can stabilize Tikki’s aura.”

“How?” asked Adrien.

“Like this! Shaan—Journey onwards!” Shaan entered his miraculous, a five band puzzle ring. The once gold ring turned white and silver as a grey light encompassed the prince, making his suit and then his mask appear. When the light dimmed, Adrien stared at the prince, who was now dressed in a grey bodysuit with white covering most of the chest, white boots with black soles that continue down from under the knee, white arm length gloves and a black belt where he keeps what looks like an elephant trunk. Finally, he wore a grey mask with white circles around his eyes, the mask forming an ‘elephant ears’ bow at the back of his head. The hero placed a hand above the ladybug kwami and summoned his power.

“Unified balance!” A white light went over Tikki, making her relax and stop shivering. “All done!” said the hero before leaving. Tikki got up and yawned like she had just taken a pleasant. She looked up at Adrien and giggled at his choice of clothing.

“Seriously!? I try to save you and you laugh at how I look?”

“<giggle> Sorry, sorry! <giggle> It’s just that you reminded me of a wielder that wore a poncho. <giggle> He was so funny! <giggle>” Adrien joined in on the giggling as well, happy to see that his kwami was doing better. Noticing that the floor was empty, he took off the poncho and helmet, ready to transform.

“You ready Tikki?”

“Ready!”

“Tikki! Spots on!” Tikki entered the earrings and Adrien used the magical energy to make his suit and mask as he twirled. Mister Bug moved to a window when he heard commotion, seeing that the fight moved outside. He jumped out and threw his yo-yo, swinging towards it.

* * *

“<Coughing>” Paon Royal was not feeling well. Duusu had warned him that her miraculous is damaged and made people sick. She also assured him that the effects weren’t lethal, but that it would affect him in the long run if he didn’t fix the miraculous or didn’t ask for the help of a spiritual healer. Still, just because he felt weak didn’t mean he could give up, it actually meant the opposite: his connection to the champion was what maintained the guardian, if he fell unconscious the guardian would become undone. Lady Monarch felt this and wanted to help so badly, but the current situation didn’t allow it.

Chai was currently using the black cat miraculous and only the black cat miraculous and Plagg, apparently, didn’t know how to force a depowering, which allowed the villain to spam his ‘Cataclysm’. Volpina, Princess Fragrance and her knight were unable to get close to him, as he constantly had one hand armed to turn something to dust. Another thing that was infuriating was how his helmet prevented the champion’s perfume from reaching him and subsequently make him her servant. The tide of the battle turned when another hero appeared. His theme was that of an elephant and he was extremely elastic, contorting his body like a professional gymnast and managing to land hits here and there. These hits were what allowed everyone else to attack and so Chai decided to go for the more direct approach. He pulled out his extendable staff and began jabbing and batting at everyone, as well as using it as a fan to blow away the gas from the hero. Mister Bug suddenly joined the fray too, making him snarl when he stole his staff.

“Yoink! Mine now!” he said as he put the yo-yo away. What he didn’t expect was for Chai to run up to him and straight up punch him, a move he most likely learned from Darkblade. Fortunately for the spotted hero, miraculouses made a person relatively invulnerable, which was good since the villain had spikes on his gloves. He got back his staff and then blocked a hit from the white knight. He was just about to parry when the light disappeared and then suddenly reappeared, hitting him from another angle. Chai managed to get back on his feet and block the hit from the elephant hero, the two remaining in a blade lock.

“Who the hell are you anyway? I thought that only the prince of Achu came here, not the resident Dumbo!”

“I’m not a ‘Dumbo’! My name is Surus! Overflow!” the trunk of his weapon extended and turned towards Chai’s head, and then Surus placed his finger in the hole of his weapon guard and pulled, a pressurized jet of water hitting the villain and pushing him away. In the meantime Mister Bug summoned his ‘Lucky charm’, getting a cricket ball in return. Princess Fragrance noticed this and ran towards the spotted hero at her lady’s request, Volpina, the knight and Surus keeping Chai occupied.

“I have a good idea what we can use this thing for!” said Lady Monarch through her champion. She explained the plan to Mister Bug and he nodded, going in the position he was instructed to go to. Princess Fragrance called back her knight and so Chai was able to advance on the heroes, Surus moving back near the knight(“I don’t want to put any pressure, but I am going to run out of time soon!”). The champion instructed Volpina to fall back and position herself towards the wall of the nearest building. The knight tapped the ground with his cricket ball three times, signaling for Mister Bug to throw the ball and for Princess Fragrance to make a perfume cloud between Chai and them. The knight pulled his metal bat back and hit the ball, making it go down and roll, just in time for Chai to land from his jump over the cloud and trip, dropping the staff in the process. Surus, ran past him and grabbed the staff and ball, the knight vanishing, his purpose done. Volpina made an illusion, making her flute look like Chai’s staff. The villain got up from the ground and dashed towards her and Mister Bug, who landed next to her. He threw a hard punch, but Volpina dodged, resulting in him getting his hand stuff in the wall. Mister Bug wrapped his yo-yo’s wire around his ring hand

“Cata—“ he was unable to finish the sentence, as the cricket ball hit him in the head hard, courtesy or Surus. The elephant hero had to leave and hide away, his transformation dropping. Lady Monarch was going to transform back soon so everyone put their strength together and pulled Chai’s hand out of the wall. Princess Fragrance hit him in the head once with the back of her perfume gun, knocking him unconscious and providing Mister Bug with the opening he needed to remove the ring. After he removed it, the transformation fell away, and, at the same time, another occurred. Stingg, the scorpion kwami had been waiting nearby, and when he saw that his master was knocked out he flew towards him, entering his miraculous and forcing a transformation. Chai pushed everyone off and ran away, leaving behind a destroyed road. Volpina scampered away to hide herself for when she de transforms and the Princess Fragrance turned back into Rose, the teen quickly running towards the hotel to find Ali and see if he’s safe. That left Mister Bug to summon his ‘Miraculous ladybug’ cleaning up all the mess they made fighting. He swung away and found a secluded location where he dropped the transformation. He was about to put the ring on when Tikki stopped him.

“Wait! Wearing more than one miraculous is dangerous, it can hurt you!”

“Oh! But if I remove the earrings you will disappear.”

“Not if you don’t want me to.” That answer made Adrien deliberate for a bit, before slowly reaching for the earrings, his eyes glued to the smiling ladybug kwami. He removed them, but Tikki didn’t disappear to his relief. He put the earrings inside the box where he found Plagg’s ring (a thing he started taking with him everywhere ever since he lost it) and looked at Tikki again, who still didn’t disappear. He slowly put on the ring and watched as the neon green light orb came out, circling him before stopping in front of his face, the light dimming to reveal a tired Plagg. Adrien wasted no time nuzzling the little god of destruction, who purred in return.

“I really missed you Plagg!” he said, tearing up.

“Oh, come on kid, stop crying! I knew you’d save me! My goodness, Tikki made you an emotive mess.” His attention was brought to the ladybug kwami, who pointedly cleared her throat. “Well I thought that this would be more private, but I don’t mind you being here Sugar-cube.

“Sugar-cube?” asked Adrien.

“I told you Plagg, don’t call me that!” said Tikki, who flew down to hug the cat kwami, Plagg returning it. Adrien felt like he was going to have a meltdown at the cuteness, so he close his eyes.

“So, what’d I missed?” He turned towards Adrien who still had his eyes closed.

“Oh, nothing much! Back when Lady Monarch and me recovered the horse miraculous me and Chai swapped miraculouses. I’ve been using the ladybug earrings until now, since I want to give them to Lady Monarch for safe keeping.” The moment he said that Tikki disappeared, making Adrien’s blood run cold. He calmed down, sighing, before he let Plagg go inside his jacket. He went towards the hotel, where he waved to the Gorilla. He entered the car and fell asleep on the back seat, too tired to by the fight, the relief at finally getting Plagg back not helping him stay awake in the slightest.

* * *

Lady Monarch tuned back to Marinette and sighed deeply, moving to sit back down on her reading chair.

“Is it finally over?” asked Wayzz, the little turtle kwami coming out of one of the drawers as Marinette pulled out the tome to read.

“Yep! The black cat miraculous is back with Chat and we didn’t lose any other miraculous in the process. We are slowly chipping away at Chai’s resources. When we find him, he’ll be in for a world of hurt!”

“I suppose… I must say, I was impressed with your plan! You have the makings of a ladybug, not just of a butterfly.”

“I’m the insect queen!” she joked as she looked at the page describing the peacock miraculous, her smile turning into a frown as she didn’t find anything that would explain the weaker signature of the peacock user.

“Is something the matter?” asked Wayzz as he sat on Marinette’s shoulder and looked at the page, Nooroo joining him.

“Yes, Paon Royal had a weak signature, almost like he was sick and this thing has no info on it!”

“Maybe his miraculous was damaged?” asked Nooroo. Marinette looked at him and then went to the part of the tome that was empty and took a black pen from the desk. She started her questioning soon after that.

“Does a miraculous look different when damaged?”

“No, but it may be stuck in the camouflaged mode!” responded Wayzz, the turtle kwami being familiar with this line of questioning.

“Ok… We already know that a damaged miraculous leads to weaker ‘emotional lights’. There’s also the fact that the transformation aggravates or causes the symptoms, judging by the bird’s Jainhuren’s quick exit.”

“I’d say it causes them! It might be the reason why he didn’t help us until now.” said Wayzz as Marinette wrote all of that down.

“Good… Now are there any physical symptoms?”

“Last time a miraculous got damaged there were, yes.” supplied Nooroo.

“And what were those symptoms?”

* * *

“Coughing and dizzy spells! There is also tiredness and, if you are particularly stubborn in using the brooch, you might end up falling into a coma.” responded Duusu, the kwami looking a bit put off by Gabriel sitting on the floor.

“Great! <cough> Adrien already saw these with his mother before she disappeared so he will notice my symptoms quickly. <coughing> How many times did Em use your miraculous?”

“Not much! Just about every time she went away from Paris. Add to that her the kindness that pushed her to go past her limits and you get one sick person… I still miss her.” Duusu began to cry silently, making Gabriel gently grab her from the air and seat on his chest, right under the peacock brooch he attached to his shirt’s collar. He was too tired to get up, so he sat in the dark room for a bit, patting Duusu. Eventually he got up and left his ‘lair’. _I have to come up with a better name for it…_

* * *

Lila made her way home after she fed her kwami, beginning to write her homework so she could get some sleep until night came. She was quite happy with the outcome of today’s battle, since they were able to retrieve a miraculous. Now, it was true that they retrieved a miraculous they had in their possession before, but not losing any others still means that they got a plus.

After she was done with her homework she went to eat a bit and then went to bed early. She had plenty of time to sleep so she could be ready for the night patrol. As she drifted off to sleep she wondered if Chat would accompany her to celebrate the win.

* * *

Chai was furious! He lost another miraculous, which meant that he was a step further from the kwami’s goal. In order to get the anger out of his system he broke down a room that was yet to be renovated. He could easily say that the support beams gave in causing it to collapse. The destruction got him to calm down somewhat, but not enough for him to call it a night. The worse thing about today was that he was still sick. He paced around his office, grumbling to himself. Stingg decided to give his wielder some advice on how to continue on.

“Hey, Chai? Do you remember how well the good days went? You corrupted that miraculous and gave it more powers, which allowed Volpina to hold her own against the heroes far better.”

“Get to the point!”

“Easy there! Don’t pop a blood vessel, alright? What I’m suggesting is you make another corrupted villain. It would be easy, and you could use another miraculous to be his or her partner!” Stingg’s advice made Chai pause as he thought about it. After that little bit of deliberation he went to take out the box from one of the drawers.

“There is one person that wouldn’t require corruption to persuade… I can use that to my advantage, having a villain that does what they do because they actually want to. I can then corrupt one of these miraculouses and hand it to someone else. Finally I can use the one miraculous that could turn the outcome of every battle in our favor. Actually, why stop there? I can use it to delete my enemies from existence—“ Chai looked at the drawer where the bunny miraculous was supposed to be. Instead of it there was a note:

 _“Hey Stingg! took your thing because the other one broke_ _._

_-Love, future Bunnix”_

Chai was furious! This day couldn’t have gone any worse for him.

Author’s notes :

  * I hope you liked the end of season one!
  * Season two will not have a Christmas special, but it will have other episodes that will move away from cannon. Now that the peacock miraculous is active I want to get to put the other miraculouses to use. (Except for the horse, Lady Monarch will hold on to that one.)
  * The reason I don't want to make Christmas special is because it would take some would and because it would mean you guys would have to wait till Christmas. I want to keep the train going though!
  * Chat is finally back guys! Now let’s see who gets the ladybug earrings.




	46. Chapter XLVI : Cold and bees don’t mix… (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greetings! Welcome to season 2 basically. The previous season was basically a miraculous back and forth with our heroes managing to scrape up some winnings, but there is still a long way to go and the villains, Chai especially, are taking things way more seriously this time.
> 
> Happy reading!

Alya and Lila were walking to school, something that rarely happened since they both woke up at different times. Nevertheless, they were walking together, exchanging small comments about the snowy weather and how their Christmas break was. The one thing that they enjoyed talking about the most was their gifts. Lila had gotten a mug for her night time activities (her mother knew that she went to sleep early to wake up again, she just didn’t know why), while Alya got a new phone case (one that was thankfully more durable than the last). The two of them were happy as they arrived at the somewhat full school entrance, which was why the limousine that stopped there and the girl that came out put a stop to that. Alya and Lila couldn’t believe their eyes: Chloe was there, with her smug smirk on her face as she watched the students move faster to get inside. The blonde was just about to come up and probably start making fun of Alya and Lila when everyone’s attention was caught by the sound of engines. All the students watched as someone with a motorbike slowed down and parked near the entrance, that someone being Marinette, who took off her helmet, got off the bike and took her bag and cane from the places where they were held. All the students started murmuring about it as they went inside, ignoring the mayor’s daughter, who glared daggers at the blue haired fashion prodigy. Alya and Lila quickly made their way next to Marinette as she entered the school grounds, knowing that Chloe will leave them alone if they were near Marinette. Chloe glared at the offending vehicle, which was now covered by butterflies (the little insects were prepared to protect their mistress’s new prized possession) before she went after the girl.

“Nice bike!” said Lila.

“Thank you, it was a Christmas gift from my nonna!” responded Marinette.

“Girl, please tell me you have a permit for that?” asked Alya.

“Of course I do!” her answer received a scoff from behind. Marinette stopped and turned, seeing Chloe there.

**|** You?! As a motorbike rider?! Sorry to be brutally honest, but you couldn’t even drive a car, what makes you think that you can ride that thing? Or have you lost your mind and want a wheelchair for next Christmas? **|** jabbed the pampered blonde.

“Maybe you should focus on relearning French before you start being mean Chloe. Your accent is dropping~!” she responded before moving to enter the school building proper. Once they all entered, everyone exploded at the sight of Chloe, most classmates asking what she was doing there. The only one who had a more intelligent response was Max.

“We though you moved to New York to stay with your mother. What happened to that?”

|Missed you guys too much, especially you four eyes!| said Chloe as she took her old seat in the class, the place having remained unoccupied since nobody wanted to seat there.

“You know, if you’re going to be this ‘pleasant’, then at least do it in English!” jabbed Lila, making most of the class snicker and making Chloe confused.

|Wait a second, did you all become buddy-buddy with ‘Lie-la’ while I was gone? <laugh> You really are dense! And here I thought that there will be good changes around here.| Her gaze landed on Sabrina and she took in the girl’s appearance: she was no longer wearing glasses, ditched that awful sweater vest, the thing replaced by grey a button up hoodie. Besides that she wore black pants, a white shirt with a tunic collar, her bow was replaced by a light blue silk scarf and she wore tan, above the ankle, ugg boots. Sabrina was pointedly not looking at her, preferring to look at a magazine. _I don’t need her anyway! Those Americans were awful, but they did teach me to not rely on weaklings._

The class settled down when Miss Bustier walked in, the teacher beginning the day with the complimenting exercise, just like always. Chloe ended up picking Sabrina’s name and she actually gave her a decent compliment, which surprised everyone. After classes were over for lunch everyone went their separate ways, Marinette and Adrien gunning for the former’s bike. Chloe walked up to him, making Adrien annoyed, as Marinette noticed he put on his model smile.

|Hey, Adrikins~! We haven’t talked all day! Do you want to spent some time together and catch up?| asked Chloe.

“Sorry Chlo, but I need to get back home! My father wants me to keep a straight schedule.” responded Adrien.

“I can have the chauffer drive you home!” she offered.

“He can’t! His father already knows that I’m getting him there. Here you go sweetie!” interjected Marinette, throwing the helmet to him, the secret cat hero catching it with ease. Chloe glared at Marinette before huffing and stomping back to her limousine. Adrien watched her go, his mouth set in a hard line.

“That was a bit harsh! You didn’t have to lie about getting me home.”

“I didn’t! Your father really does know I’m the one getting you home. Besides, did she ever call back? Did she ever answer your messages?” asked Marinette.

“…No.”

“See! If she won’t show any signs that she cares why must you give in? Let her boil a little and then act nice. I guarantee that with your new muscles she won’t be able to stay mad at you.”

“<Chuckle> You’re a bit of a bad influence, you know that, right?”

“<Giggle> Yep! Marinette, the **bad girl**!” she accentuated her words by putting on sunglasses. The two got on (Marinette putting his hands to hold her a little more securely) and Marinette started driving, impressing Adrien with the steadiness she maintained despite the speed. When they arrived at his home (by taking the ‘scenic route’) Adrien got off and hugged her goodbye, the young fashion designer hugging back before heading home. Unfortunately she encountered a problem on the road. A villain-shaped problem.

* * *

Chloe was seething in the back sit of her limousine. Marinette and Adrien were clearly together and he didn’t seem to want to hang out with her anymore. It was almost like he didn’t value her friendship at all… or Marinette taught him to be bad to her! That must have been it! As the limousine stopped at the hotel she didn’t even bother letting the door be opened for her, instead she flew out of the vehicle and into the lift like a cannon bolt. Once she entered her room a small bee looking being flew out of her bag.

“Your highness—”

**|** Not a word! That ugly witch stole away my friend and I will not stand idly by and continue to let that happen now that I’m back! Besides, the scorpion guy wants me to make some trouble and I have nothing against it. Pollen! Buzz on!| The bee kwami was sucked into her miraculous, yellow and black colored energy facilitating Chloe’s transformation into her villain persona. The bee villain went out on the open balcony and jumped away, using her spinning top to send a message to her ‘partner’ before jumping into the air and traveling with it.

In the meantime, a message was sent to a teen sitting in the library, alone, writing his book. The teen sighed and left the library, going to the boy’s bathroom.

“I wasn’t expecting to be called on the job that quickly…” he murmured to himself. “Get squeaky.” the transformation words uttered, the magical energy covered his body and turned him into a rat themed villain. The villain left the bathroom using a vent and came out through the vent that opened at the school’s roof, then jumped away, hurrying towards the signal his ‘partner’ gave him.

* * *

Marinette was not having a nice day. The day **started out** nice, but it took a turn for the worst as a bee villain and a rat villain appeared, both of them focusing on her. The rat villain was particularly annoying, as he was able to multiply, the clones trying (and failing) to block the road. _The only difference between these clones and the ones Volpina used to make is that these ones are harder to get rid off! We’ll need more help this time._ she thought to herself as she found a very good out-of-the-way spot, one that the villains missed. She parked her bike and took out her cane, her kwami coming out of her fur biker jacket.

“Great day for some exercise, don’t you think?” asked Marinette.

“I’ll have to agree with you this time. We don’t have enough time to look for a champion, and even if we did, we wouldn’t be able to minimize the damage because of the multiplying villain!” responded Nooroo.

“Which is why we need a ladybug active… and I have a very good idea of who to call upon. Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” Nooroo entered the brooch and the magical energy changed Marinette into Lady Monarch, the hero twirling her cane as it turned into her miraculous tool. Lady Monarch made a Fay and then let it fly close before turning back into Marinette and letting it enter her cane, turning her into Seamstress. Seamstress jumped up onto the roofs to see the damage: the multiplying villain did most of the trouble, the bee one seeming to direct him. Someone landed behind her and she tensed, turning around and readying her scythe, only to relax when she saw Chat’s lopsided grin.

“Hi Chat! Can you keep the two villains occupied? My lady asked me to do something for her.”

“Hello my purrincess! Sure I can. I’m back in black and ready to roll!” Chat ran past her and jumped of the roof, yelling some funny insult to the villains. Seamstress went the opposite way and raced for the location she hid the miraculouses. She made sure to keep any clones from following her and she succeeded, her black scythe slashing through them. She managed to get home stealthily and entered her room. She went straight to the portrait and removed it, revealing the safe. She input the code and opened it, the boxes with miraculouses as well as the tome being displayed inside. She took one that had the ladybug symbol painted on it and left, quickly going to find her prime candidate. When she did, she saw that she was in trouble, the clones circling her and playing with her phone. Alya was a bit scared to hit them since they had her phone, Marinette knowing her friend would probably crash into them since her friend was not at all afraid of the villains.

Seamstress entered the fray and quickly hit the villains’ heads together, making them disappear, just in time for Alya to catch her phone. She then pulled her into a side alley where she was sure they couldn’t be seen.

“Marinette! You’re ok!” Alya hugged Seamstress tightly before pulling back. “You’re a champion?”

“Yes, and the name is Seamstress. My lady wanted to give you this... late Christmas gift!” She handed over the box and gauged her best friend’s reaction, smiling when she opened the box and met Tikki with a small wave. _Yep, I should give myself a pat on the back. My choices are good!_ Seamstress literally gave herself a pat on the back.

Author’s notes :

  * Alya is the ladybug hero! I liked the idea of her having the ladybug miraculous in cannon. The only thing that stopped her from being it was that Marinette was more capable. Right here, in this fic though, though? She might **be able** to be Ladybug, but only for a short time, as her leg would not allow her to wear the spotted suit full time. Plus she is too attached to the butterfly miraculous and Nooroo to **ever** change hero identities.
  * Alya is the second smartest person when it comes to people (she kind of believes cannon!Marinette over cannon!Lila, but she doesn’t see that the girl is lying though), behind Marinette of course! So her being the new and fresh ladybug is going to somewhat work.
  * Alya is a bit nuts about superheroes, and she’s probably going to have a rude awakening about the whole thing now that she has an actual miraculous and is responsible for her own actions (champions are not completely responsible for their actions since Lady Monarch is there to guide them, so some of the blame goes to her, obviously).
  * Next chapter we will get to the proper introduction of the villains, their suits’ descriptions, as well as their ‘partnership’.




	47. Chapter XLVII : …but rats can survive it! (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!
> 
> Welcome to part two of the season 2 premiere basically!, as well as the conclusion of our introduction of our new good and evil players (old and new alike).
> 
> If you have anything you wish to share drop a comment down bellow and I'll answer it as early as possible!  
> Happy reading!

Tikki looked at the person in front of her, and then looked around, her eyes landing on the current guardian. The girl winked at her and Tikki turned back to the very giddy blogger who was putting on the earrings.

“OMG! This going to be awesome! Ok, so what’s your name? Every kwami has one.” asked Alya, making Tikki gape a little. She quickly regained her composure and answered.

“I’m Tikki! And you are…?”

“Alya Cesaire, fan of all heroes and the author of ‘Butterfly-cat News’!”

“I think I’ll leave you two to it. I gotta go and help Chat out. Join us when you’re ready!” And just like that, she left them alone. Alya eagerly asked questions regarding her power set and best strategy of using them, which surprised and delighted Tikki, who explained the ‘Lucky charm’ and ‘Miraculous ladybug’ powers, mentioning how the former will give her an object that will ensure her success as long as she finds a way to use properly. She also stressed the importance of saving ‘Lucky charm’ for an emergency, since the power triggered the countdown to her transformation back into a civilian. Alya took all this in to account and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply before breathing out.

“Ok, you can do this Cesaire… Tikki, spots on!” Tikki entered the earrings, causing the magical energy to flare out, forming her hero gear. Once the transformation was over she jumped up and made it to the roof with what she felt as a light leap. She started running on the roofs, going in the direction of the fight, and eventually, when she felt that the jumps were getting harder, she took the yo-yo from her waist and threw it in front of her, the miraculous tools grappling on a poll and pulling her along a little too quickly, the result being her getting launched into the air, past all the buildings and into the fighting ground, nailing the landing… by hitting a wall. _I need to work on using this thing!_ she thought to herself as her fight-or-flight instincts kicked in, allowing her to back flip away from a yellow and black spinning top. She looked at the scene in front of her and took in the situation. Her enemy immediately in front of her was dressed in a bee themed suit with yellow covering most of it, while the other ones were dressed in the same repeating suit: a dark grey bodysuit with white elbow-length gloves that ended in dark green, the left hand having an extra black fingerless glove, thigh-high white boots that seamlessly connect to the suit, the right leg having a black knee length ‘sock’ and wearing a dark green ballet flat. Finally, they wore a half dark green half dark grey mask, had a whip tail and over his body suit they wore an opened black hoodie with the mouse eared hood up and elbow length sleeves. Her allies were currently keeping the clones at bay, but only barely.

Alya jumped into action by literally jumping on her enemy, dodging the spinning top and using the bee’s head to launch herself into the bigger fight that was happening. She threw her yo-yo and caught a bunch of clones and, using her momentum, she spun them into the bee villain then landed into the center of the fight.

* * *

Adrien had a nice time at home, working on his homework as he had a shoot a few hours later, when the hero app gave an alarm. Groaning, he checked it and saw the news : ‘New bee and rat villain attack biker girl’.

“Marinette!” he said out loud, getting up and running to where Plagg was eating cheese, disturbing the little cat god.

“What’s up with your princess kid?” he asked.

“She’s in danger and there are new villains!” that got Plagg’s attention, the kwami floating up to eye level.

“Well, what are waiting for?! Transform already!”

“Plagg! Claws out!” he transformed into Chat, the cat hero not even basking in the nice and familiar feeling of his old suit as he jumped out his bedroom’s window. He ran like a madman through the city, forgoing his usual air tricks for efficiency’s sake. When he saw Seamstress on the roof all the stress left him, resulting in him almost not making the landing. He did though, and had a short and pleasant back and forth with his girlfriend (not that she knew he was Adrien anyway). After that he went to keep the villains occupied like he was asked to.

Chat had had a really hard time with keeping the villains busy, as the bee would occasionally trip him up and he would have to correct his trajectory lest he wanted the clones to catch him and hold him down. Thankfully, Seamstress was quick to join him and help, the two of them having a marginally easier time with keeping track of the clones and keeping an eye on the bee hero. What made the situation even better was the ladybug hero that appeared and easily took care of some of the clones by sending them the bee villain’s way, causing the rest to fall back.

“Get off me you idiots! Get off!” screamed the bee villain at her ‘partners’. When she agreed to help the scorpion she didn’t expect having to direct a bunch of numbskull clones. The heroes took this opportunity to unwind a little.

“So, Lady Monarch decided to bring another person to play. Good on her! This situation screams ‘Help wanted’. Now what’s your name fair lady?” asked Chat looking at her and comparing her suit to Ladybug Jester’s : she had a red-with-black-spots domino mask and black antennas. Her suit had tails that looked like ladybug elytra and was a fire red color with black spots and shoulders (no shoulder pads), black leggings and western boots the same color as her suit.

“I’m… Coccinelle, the new ladybug hero! You don’t mind that I borrowed the earrings, right kitty?”

“Of course not! I’m more of a ring man myself and they fit you better anyway.” The two heroes’ little chitchat was cut by Seamstress clearing her throat and pointing towards where the villains were. The two looked and saw that the villains were looking at them.

Are you done with your chitchat?” asked the bee villain.

“Actually, since we took a break how about we get introductions out of the way? I’m Chat and this is our new colleague, Coccinelle. The lovely lady behind me is the current champion, Seamstress.” said Chat, making the bee villain smile.

“You’re looking at the fabulously unique Queen Bee! These guys are Ratata.”

“ **Hey! We didn’t agree with that name.** ” said all the clones, making the heroes and champion wince. Queen Bee was unperturbed, placing her hands on her hips and wearing an amused smile on her face before quickly throwing her spinning top towards her enemies, the bee miraculous tool hitting the ladybug miraculous tool instead.

“Knew you’d pull off a chip trick like that! Guys, scatter!” and scatter they did, Chat, Seamstress and Coccinelle going off in three different directions. Queen Bee snarled and ordered the clones to split in three groups and capture them. They did as they were told, one group following Chat, another Seamstress, and the last one following Coccinelle along with Queen Bee. _I’m the smartest that ever was! Scorpion-guy said that the ladybug earrings have the power of luck, so if I get them I can use them to raise our chances of success! Then I can be the only hero that Paris needs!_ Thought Queen Bee to herself as she gained ground on the ladybug hero. What she didn’t even consider was Coccinelle being any good, the hero smartly using the yo-yo to swing back towards her, kicking her into the clones’ arms. Coccinelle then veered off the straight direction she had been going in and circled back to the center. Once there she noticed that both Chat and Seamstress were able to thin the number of clones that followed them, making her chastise herself about not thinking to do that as well. The heroes and champion regrouped and Coccinelle had enough of the continued charade and so, ready to end the fight, she called out her special abilty.

“Lucky charm!... Car keys? I was thinking something along the lines of a megaphone…”

“Tikki once told me that ‘Lucky charm’ increases its difficulty the more creative a person is. Look around, there has to be something you can use those car keys with!” instructed Chat. Coccinelle followed his advice, looking for a possible solution as she dodged around the clones. She noticed how Queen Bee kept barking orders at them, telling them to ‘Watch out!’, ‘Encircle him you idiots!’, ‘Take her scythe!’ and many more. In the corner of her eye she noticed an overturned police car and she smiled, a plan forming in her head. She made a run for the car and pressed the button on the keychain to unlock it. Inside the car was not a megaphone like she had hoped, but there was a wireless music set with a model of very loud speakers. She took them out as she was suddenly dragged by her foot, turning around to notice a few stray clones dragging her. She retaliated with kicking the hands off and then doing a doing a kick-up, quickly running back to the sound set.

“Chat, ‘Cataclysm’ the ground!” she shouted.

“You got it! Cataclysm!” The move caused a mini-sized earthquake, causing the clones and Queen Bee to become unbalance and giving Coccinelle enough time to rig up the sound system. Coccinelle turned on the wireless system, causing the bee villain to be unable to issue any commands. Realizing this, the Ratata clone turned tail ran, Queen Bee following soon after.

“Miraculous ladybug!” Coccinelle threw the car keys into the air and the magical ladybugs did their job, repairing all the damage caused by the villains. After that she dropped to her knees, relieved it was finally over. Chat and Seamstress came running, the latter turning back into Marinette.

“Are you ok?” asked Chat.

“That was so stressful!” said Coccinelle, unaware of the beeping of her earrings that was telling her she had two minutes left. Chat’s ring beeped as well, but he was not in a hurry, the cat hero still having four minutes left.

“My lady chose you for a reason. She was sure that you could handle the pressure.” said Marinette as she watched her best friend get up.

“Yeah… I know. I think I’ll go before my timer runs out. Pound it?”

“Pound it!” said Marinette and Chat at the same time, the three pounding their fist. Chat and Coccinelle left the scene, Marinette turning back to see her bike parked near her on the sidewalk instead of where she left it. She smiled and went to it, getting on and driving back home.

* * *

Queen Bee and Ratata stopped at one roof, looking back to see if they were followed. Thankfully, they weren’t.

“Pollen! Buzz off!”

“Get quiet!”

The two teens transformed back into their civilian selves, Chloe giving Pollen a cookie to eat. She looked at him and she looked at her, neither willing to break the silence yet.

“’Idiots’?” he broke it first.

“Yes, idiots! It was like I was working with a bunch of brain dead puppets, not an actual person. Why were you so useless anyway?”

“I was not useless. We were working fine together, and I don’t know why I was unable to help as much… I actually wanted to.”

“… Well, I suppose at least the intention matters. What’s your name?”

“Mark Anciel, and you are Chloe Bourgeois… I guess at least it fits.”

“What fits?”

“Your name, Queen Bee… unlike my own name, which I didn’t even get to choose thank you very much!”

“You’re welcome! Ratata was the best thing I came could come up with on the spot. It kind of sounds like gun fire, so I went with that since you multiply very quickly.”

“I suppose it does sound nicer when you say it like that…” Chloe was just about to respond when they heard clapping. They turned to see a silhouette of a man in broad daylight.

“Wonderful! Even though you didn’t win your first outing was so much better than Volpina’s.”

“Scorpion guy?"/"Master?” asked the two teens simultaneously.

“The one and only **Chai**. And yes it is me. I watched your battle from afar and, I must say, you did very good. Though I think it would be wise for you to keep the number of clones to a minimum Ratata, they all share your one mind and it can become hard for you to keep track of everyone.”

“So that’s why your clones were idiots!” said Chloe triumphantly.

“<chuckle> Yeah... ‘idiots’...”

Author’s notes :

  * That is all for today folks! I hope you liked the introduction of our new villains ‘cause they will be here for a long time.
  * Chloe suit isn’t really changed since she wasn’t corrupted. Marc’s though, I had a field day with that one. I modeled it after Marinette’s Multimouse suit and added a few bits and pieces there to make it look different.
  * I hope you like Alya’s ladybug suit too. I thought long and hard about how I wanted it to look and came up with this. She will certainly have a few problems, as you saw, but she will get over them (she’s already showing her potential).



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am like an owl,  
> I live in the night.  
> I ready my wings for flight,  
> but not before I eat some food  
> from a bowl,  
> Depending on my mood.
> 
> This was some impromptu poetry my mind came up with and I wanted to share it with you guys!  
> I hope you liked it!


	48. Chapter XLVIII : No big surprise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i honestly do not remember why I titled this chapter like this since it doesn't have any relation with what happens here, Props to you if you can find a connection(please share your insight with me too)!
> 
> Happy reading!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GREETINGS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let us continue our journey through this fantastical world of heroes and villains!

Marinette woke up with a groan. Sitting up on her bed she started massaging her leg, her breathing uneven from the pain. She turned to look to her left when she heard the sound of a bottle of pills being shaken, seeing Nooroo and Wayzz holding an unopened bottle. She raised an eyebrow at them, but then her eyes blew wide, taking the bottle. Instead of her usual prescription this one had a different one. It still had her name and the name of her prescribing doctor on it though.

“Why do I have a bottle of… Vicodin? Does this say Vicodin? My goodness my doc’s handwriting sucks!”

“It does say Vicodin.” responded Nooroo.

“It’s new medication I assume?” supplied Wayzz.

“I guess so. Wonder why…?” asked the bewildered and half awake teen. _I was doing fine with my normal prescription._

“You had trouble sleeping because of the pain. Your parents noticed and asked the doctor for something stronger.” said the butterfly god.

“Oh, come on…! I wasn’t that sleep deprived.”

“You were.” replied Nooroo.

“I must agree with Nooroo on this. You had dark circles under your eyes! How worse do you have to get to admit that you had trouble sleeping?” asked Wayzz as he crossed his paws.

“… They looked worse than they were. Do these cause acid reflux?”

“No. At least I don’t think so? The warning said that it could cause liver damage. There’s nothing to worry about though. The—“ said the little purple kwami before getting cut off.

“The liver is one of the most important organ in a person’s body… Why shouldn’t I be worried?” asked the blue haired teen who was currently shaking the bottle.

“Because the miraculouses boost a person’s normal state. You are stronger, faster and tougher! Did you not tell her this Nooroo?” asked Wayzz with an undertone of disapproval in his voice.

“I was just about to!” responded Nooroo. Marinette smiled before opening the bottle and popping a pill.

“Better body means better immunity system. This must be why I didn’t get sick when I stayed at Alya’s... I’m gonna go talk to my parents about not informing me of their decision.”

* * *

Adrien woke up early that day, no problems whatsoever. He began the morning with his new routine: ten minutes of exercise, five in the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth and two minutes to change and make his messy hair less messy. After that he went to get some breakfast and then came back to his room to check that he had everything in his bag. After hearing Nathalie call him he rushed out, stopping when he heard his father have a heated conversation on the phone. He opened the door slightly, seeing his father ‘open’ the portrait and putting something back inside whatever was behind the portrait, ‘closing’ it. He hid from view when his father came out and left, quickly going in his office to see what was behind the portrait. Apparently it was a safe. Plagg flew out of Adrien’s jacket and shared a nod with him before going through the safe’s door and opening it from the inside. The interior of the safe was filled with papers, books, notebooks and a photo of his mother. The one thing that attracted his attention the most was the black book with a red Chinese symbol on it, the symbol being the same as the one on the box that held Plagg’s ring. He took it out and paged through it, noticing that it began with basic notes and observation about the black cat miraculous, and then moved on to theories about it and all the other miraculouses that had been activated. There were a few photos too, one of them being of Copycat, the words under it reading ‘Who is the second one?’. He was about to look at the latest page when he heard Nathalie calling for him to get to the car. Like a kid who was caught stealing candy, he scrambled to stuff the notebook inside his bag and ran out of the office and out of the mansion, entering the car.

* * *

After the ‘pleasant’ conversation she had with her parents, one that started with her being furious since she wasn’t told about the change in medication and ended in her hugging her parents and saying that she would have accepted their decision anyway, she changed herself out of her pajamas and into a black turtleneck and cream colored pants. After eating her breakfast she put on her winter coat and pink scarf, leaving for school. She arrived at about the same time as Chloe’s limousine, not paying any mind to the blond (and reveling in her annoyance). She entered the class as normal, with one key difference: her leg felt better than when she woke up. This was noticed by Alya as well, the girl seeing that the young fashion designer was moving noticeably faster and was not leaning on her cane as hard.

“Happy to see that my girl is walking easier! Though that does pose the question: Did you do something to your leg since yesterday?”

“Nope! Just got new meds.” she pulled out the bottle of Vicodin and shook it a bit before putting it back. “I took a pill about half an hour ago and now I’m feeling **much** better.” Even though Bustier walked into class Alya continued the chitchat with her friend, the young fashion designer discretely looking at the pair of orange earrings that adorned the blogger’s ears with a smile.

After school was done for the day Marinette waved Adrien off to talk to Chloe and clear up the situation with her (she hated Chloe but noticed her boyfriend was still thinking at repairing the rift between him and her). Adrien did that, and promised Chloe that they will hang out sometime, just not now, since he had work to do at the library. His work was obviously regarding the book he found in the safe, the one he was currently paging through. _Father was really thorough!_ he thought to himself as he looked at the last page. It featured a drawing of a peacock brooch, one different to the one they had, with five tails and colored in pink and dark blue. Besides that there were a bunch of notes some of them giving Adrien chills. It contained information about some sort of sickness that was aggravated by using the miraculous and manifested in the form of coughing and dizziness ( _Just like mom!_ ). It certainly explained the sudden disappearance of the knight in that fight with Chai. There was a passage written in red that immediately grabbed his attention, one that read, in bold letters: **‘Use sparingly and only when situation calls for! Find a way to fix the damage!’**

_Is my father helping Paon Royal? I never thought that he would want to help a hero, but I guess he would want to keep me safe. It would explain why he showed up after I told him I was going to the hotel._ Adrien thought to himself as he continued to examine the notebook. He was startled out of his concentration by Lila’s sudden ‘Whatcha doin’?’. Deciding to humor her, he told her that he found this interesting notebook regarding the miraculous and that it looked more like amateur writing than actual information. Lila grabbed and paged through it as well, very interested for some reason. The two talked for a while about it and some other stuff before it was time for her to leave. When she did she accidentally sent Adrien’s bag to the floor, the boy not noticing the notebook that she snatched from him. After she walked out of view she opened it and looked at the page that had her worried the most. It showed a drawing of a muddy brown butterfly flying towards a person, that person turning into a red-eyed brick-golem-looking monstrosity. At the lowest part of the page it read ‘Danger’, the word being circled multiple times. _I gotta get this to my lady! She has to see this!_ she thought to herself as she left the library. She rushed to the girl’s bathroom and let Trixx out.

“You were quick to snatch that notebook up. Are you even sure it contains information that Lady Monarch would want? The cover symbol may just be a coincidence.” asked the fox kwami as she munched on a chocolate bar.

“Well, there is a bunch of analysis on powers and the rules of how many abilities a miraculous can grant… there’s also this.” she opened the notebook at the page with the drawing for Trixx to look at. The little god in question stopped chewing and took in every detail of the drawing with big eyes. He looked at Lila and nodded, the girl understanding his message exactly.

“What is it though?” she asked, looking at it some more.

“I think it’s called ‘Vision’? It definitely looks like the peacock’s one-time-use power!” she said, floating to sit on her shoulder.

“You mean like my ‘Ghost trek’?” asked Lila, receiving a nod in response. “Ok… Trixx. Let’s pounce!” she flicked the necklace before the kwami entered it, the magical energy covering her body and making her suit, mask, ears and tail. Volpina left the school with the notebook, thinking of a way to attract Lady Monarch’s attention. She didn’t have to really search for anything, the solution presenting itself quite quickly, in the form of a villain tower.

“What in the hell?!” she asked out loud, beginning to laugh at the funny show of the villain tower leaning left and right as it walked.

“Stop moving you id— Ratatas!... There! Sit still now.” ordered Queen Bee as she looked at the vixen hero. She had a smile on her face and was clearly trying to suppress another bout of laughter. The thing that peeked the bee villain’s interest was the notebook she held in her arms, which had same symbol as her box. “I command you to give me that notebook, you insufferable fox! After her Ratatas!” And so began the chase for the notebook.

* * *

Marinette sighed and left her homework unfinished when the hero app went off, walking up the stairs to enter her garden, popping a pill in the process. Arriving upstairs, the two kwamis (who were playing with her Excalibur puzzle box), looked up, Nooroo understanding what’s happening from the moment he made eye contact with his young mistress.

“Time to bring a champion to life my Cinnamon roll!” she said as she used her cane to press the button in the center of the floor and open the impromptu sky light, making the butterflies fly around excitedly.

“What’s the emergency?” asked the little butterfly god

“Miraculous notebook!” responded Marinette, showing him a picture from the hero app of a black cover notebook with the symbol of the Order of the guardians on it. Nooroo looked at it with wide eyes and began panicking.

“We need to get it back! That notebook could contain important information about the miraculouses. I-it could be from another guardian. Maybe Master Fu was not the only one that survived…”

“I doubt it’s from the order. Master Fu was very meticulous with his life style, which is why he lived so long to begin with. I don’t think another member, especially if they’re an old master, can live as long as my master.” interjected Wayzz.

“It could still be important though. Maybe some knucklehead historian at the museum found something they weren’t supposed to and started to keep notes. It is weird that Volpina has it though... That doesn’t matter right now! Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” The butterfly kwami was sucked into the brooch, cutting off his panicky rant. The butterflies covered her as she turned into Lady Monarch, who twirled her cane as it turned into her miraculous tool. She leaned on it, searching for a champion to help, Wayzz settling on her shoulder. She gave a subdued laugh when she noticed a good candidate, noticing the effort he was putting in getting back the notebook.

“I ask for that notebook and the universe answers my call by bringing its author to my attention. Perfect! At least I know it’s not some historian in over their head.” said Lady Monarch as she made a Fay. “Fly away my beautiful Fay, and give this author the power to protect the secrets of his notebook from the claws of the villains!” The Fay flew away and reached the battlefield in record time.

* * *

Adrien was similarly working on his homework when the hero app alerted him that a battle was being held. He looked at the details this time and felt his blood run cold. He quickly ran towards his bag and checked every inch of it, finding that the hero app was correct: his father’s notebook was out there, and Volpina was trying to keep the villains from getting it. He quickly ran to Plagg, disturbing the little kwami from his nap.

“Hey, what gives kid!? I was sleeping!”

“No time to sleep, we gotta go and retrieve father’s notebook before he sees that it’s out there!”

“… Are you telling me you lost the notebook?” asked the cat god, clearly confused.

“Yes! Look, you can nap after, but right now we have to go!”

“Ok, ok! Yeesh, living with Tikki sure made you a responsible guy! You didn’t even go for the catnap joke!”

“… Wait a **meowment**! Did I really not go for the catnap joke?” asked Adrien.

“Nope!” replied Plagg with a laugh.

“Ugh! I must be losing my practice! No worries, I’m going to make up for it! Plagg! Claws out!” The cat kwami entered the ring, the magical energy covering Adrien’s body, making the suit, mask, ears and tail appear, Chat Noir sitting in his place before rushing out the window to get to the fight. Once he arrived there he came across a small problem: his father was there.

* * *

The moment Gabriel saw the current battle on the hero app, he rushed out like a bullet, hoping that in their fight the notebook would be dropped, allowing him to take it back and run away. He contemplated going as Paon Royal, but he decided against it because of two reasons: 1. Staying transformed made him sick; 2.Going as the hero to retrieve it would make people suspicious. So he went as a civilian, arriving at about the same time as his son. When he got there, he took cover in a hidden area as Chat took care of the villain tower, making them topple over and fall. The only one who landed with grace was Queen Bee, who went to attack the cat hero. The clones in turn went after Volpina, who looked clearly tired if her half closed eyes were any indication. She deftly, if a bit slowly, dodged the clones’ attacks. Unfortunately, one of the clones grabbed her ankle as she jumped away for the nth time, making her let go of the notebook. Seeing his chance, Gabriel ran from his spot and grabbed the notebook, continuing to move, the clones and Queen Bee going after him. The heroes followed as well, Chat trying desperately to find an opening where he could swoop in and get him out of there. The opening never came fast enough, as when Gabriel himself dodged an attack by jumping on a car, a Fay entered his notebook, the yellow butterfly symbol appearing on his face as he continued running away.

_“Greetings, Researcher! I am Lady Monarch! I see that you are very eager to learn about the magical jewels known as the Miraculous, which is why I wish to give you the power to record every detail of them in your notebook. In return you shall help with the retrieval of the bee and mouse miraculouses. What do you say, do we have a deal?”_

“Yes! <cough>” he slowed down due to a coughing fit, the white-yellow light encompassing him and changing him, stopping his coughing for now. After the light dimmed, the Researcher was revealed. He was dressed in a black and white bodysuit with a black and red ascot and drill like white hair that had a black curling stripe. He had pale purple skin, wore a pair of black glasses with red lenses and high heel boots that were seamlessly connected to his bodysuit. Lady Monarch noticed that his appearance was villain-like, but didn’t mention anything as she knew his normal person liked to intimidate and that all the champions had their appearance formed from their personalities and deepest desires.

Researcher turned towards the fight, throwing his notebook at some of the clones and making them turn to grey smoke, inside it appearing a description of the power, which was apparently called ‘Multitude’. The champion grimaced at the small amount of information given as the butterfly symbol appeared on his face.

_“The mouse miraculous has been corrupted, so its powers are not natural. Once the mouse is retrieved and cleansed you can get a proper description.”_ This made Researcher feel a little better as he took off to fight the clones and make his way towards the other villain. Using his shoes he easily poofed the clones into nothing as he got closer.

* * *

When he was satisfied with his position he threw the notebook right in the way of the bee villain’s spinning top, making that disappear and a lot of information appear on his notebook.

“What?! Give that back you imbecile! That spinning top is mine!” Queen Bee made to attack the champion when she got ambushed from above by none other than Coccinelle, the spotted hero pulling the hair pin off.

When he was satisfied with his position he threw the notebook right in the way of the bee villain’s spinning top, making that disappear and a lot of information appear on his notebook.

“What?! Give that back yo—“ she suddenly stopped talking and then jumped back, just as Coccinelle landed, narrowly dodging the attack.

“Retreat.” came a voice from her ear communicator. A voice she recognized as Chai’s. She and Ratata retreated quickly, confusing the heroes as to why they would do that.

* * *

After the whole fiasco with the notebook, Lady Monarch decided to call a night meeting at Notre Dame with everyone there, including Paon Royal. When everyone arrived she started her speech.

“Now that everyone has arrived, it’s time to mention a few things! Firstly, I decided to let Volpina go nightshift fulltime—“

“I’m already doing that!” said the grumpy vixen hero.

“Sure! But if you waited I would have said that you don’t have to be a hero during the day. You are now the leader of the Lunar Team!”

“’Lunar Team’?” asked Paon with only a few words to cover his labored breathing, his throat wanting to make him cough.

“Yes, the Lunar Team! You, Volpina and another member will be watching Paris at night. Your main goal will be to find Chai’s hideout, and, if it’s the case, fight the villains. Me, Chat and Coccinelle will be acting during the day as usual.”

“We’re getting a new teammate?” asked Chat excitedly.

“I haven’t chosen them yet, which is why for the first night shift that will follow I will act as member and monitor the new hero in Paon’s place.”

“Wait… You first say that I will act at night… and then say that that will be later?” asked Paon, making everyone look at Lady Monarch, who walked up to him.

“I am only looking out for your heath ‘Feathers’! You see, out of all the heroes here, the only ones I don’t know their secret identities are Chat and you... Mister ‘Grand-cat’.” The sudden stress of that statement accentuated Paon’s condition, starting up a bout of coughing and wheezing. His legs gave out from under him and Lady Monarch caught him, letting him down gently. Everyone gathered at their side, Chat being the one that was most worried for the health of the one that apparently gave him the ring.

“How long <cough> have you known?” asked Paon.

“Since the first time we cooperated. Your ‘emotional light’ was weaker. I’m guessing your miraculous is damaged?” she asked, receiving a nod. Sighing, she and the others placed him on a seat, lady monarch ordering her butterflies to bring down her tome and pen.

“What are you doing?” asked Paon.

“Taking notes of symptoms! I want to know exactly what the problem is so I can fix it. Until then I’ll give some protective charm to stabilize you, so, symptoms please?” Paon looked at her for a little longer before beginning to explain what the problem was. After that they all left, Lady Monarch promising that she will send her civilian helper for his miraculous the second she figures out what sort of damage the jewel received.

Author’s notes :

  * Surprise! In the beginning I said that Marinette had a less debilitating version of House’s chronic pain, but what I didn’t say is that chronic pain can become worse the longer a person has it.
  * That was longer than I expected. The fact that I kept switching between perspectives was the reason though, not the fight I wrote here. The fight was awfully short this time, sorry about that. Having so many heroes around usually tends to end the fight more quickly.
  * I’m splitting the heroes up in two teams for that exact reason, as we need to have a balance between the two opposing forces.
  * Chai, you sneaky devil you, what are you doing?
  * We will get to see future guardians/Jainhurens in the future too. By splitting off the teams I can more easily focus on all these characters and not have a bloated chapter that takes long to write. It’s a win-win, since more manageable chapters means I can work at a leisurely pace, and you guys get more stuff.




	49. Chapter XLIX : Prime time audience and night game shows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our main heroes have an interview while the auxiliary team does the work, things ending up with all of them fighting the villains in an interesting episode of 'Face to face' that never happened.
> 
> Happy reading!

Marinette was currently sitting in her room working on decoding a portion of her tome by herself while also on a call with Alya, helping her with her chemistry homework.

“…and, finally, you equalize the number of reactants and products. Then everything is easy. Need to do another exercise to understand?” asked Marinette before popping a pill.

“Nope! Thanks for helping me on such short notice girl! My parents said that I needed to get my homework done before I’m allowed to watch ‘Face to Face’ tonight.” said Alya, making Marinette’s brow crease in worry.

“Come again?” she asked.

“Which part?”

“The last one.”

“I said that I needed to get my homework done to watch ‘Face to Face’ tonight.”

“Wasn’t it supposed to be tomorrow night?”

“It was, but it got rescheduled to tonight! Why, do you have something to do?”

“I had something to do, but since Miss Chamack is going to drop Manon on my lap… Wait, I’ve got a solution: how about you—“

“Sorry girl, but I can’t! I—“

“—need to be there. Right…! Forgot about our secret code: when you mentioned that you wanted to watch ‘Face to Face’, you meant that you must be there. Can’t let down Coccinelle’s fans, right?”

“… I’ve got fans?” Alya’s eyes lit up.

“Sure you do! People dig your ‘Lucky charm’ and acrobatics and are dying to see your next fight. Until then I think you should win ‘em over with your personality as well.”

“T-thanks! Maybe I should get going.”

* * *

And with that she closed the call, giddy. As she started to place her chemistry books back with the others she thanked her past self for the decision to close her room’s door. Tikki, who was eating a cookie from the bakery, flew towards her holder and settled on it.

“You didn’t say you were going to that show. And I’m guessing you didn’t because you knew that I wouldn’t agree.”

“Yep! You take this hero thing seriously—“

“And so should you! Being a hero is a big responsibility. We should be spending our time saving people, not giving interviews!”

“I know Tikki, we are heroes, not stars. But think of it like this: if a hero gets bad publicity then the people will turn against them. We have to give the people what they want the few times they ask us, or else they’ll start hating us and Chai with his villain duo will take advantage of that.” reasoned Alya in one single breath. Tikki looked down, realizing the complexity of the situation and sighed. _Back in the day things were so much simpler. The heroes would come solve the problem then leave and everyone else would mind their own business._ The ladybug kwami was startled from her thoughts by Alya patting her head.

“Hey… I know that this must seem difficult. From what I know you guys have been around for a long time before the present and in the past there weren’t really too many people with cameras trying to get interviews from the superheroes… If you don’t want me going then I’ll stay home.”

“… No, you’re right. Go out there and do what your friend Marinette asked of you.”

“You sure?” asked Alya, receiving a nod from Tikki. “Ok then, Tikki, spots on!” Tikki flew into the earrings, unleashing the magical energy and forming her suit as she did a spinning back flip. She then made her mask and antennas appear. With her hero ensemble on, Coccinelle left her room through the window and closed it behind her before leaving.

* * *

“Sorry Marinette, but I’ve got a photo shoot—“

“A photo shoot in the dark?” she asked with a deadpan sounding voice.

“Vincent has a thing for shots with the moon in the background. Maybe Alya could help you?”

“Nope, I asked her first and she said she couldn’t.”

“Maybe you could ask another friend? I saw you and Sabrina bonding in the past.”

“That’s a brilliant idea! Thanks sweetie!” Marinette closed the call and left Adrien alone with his thoughts…

“Your princess really likes you, ay?” …and Plagg of course.

“Do you think it’s ok for her to call me sweetie? I mean, not that I mind, but I thought that’s a thing only adults did.”

“Nah, the sweetie thing has been used be a bunch of people! Some of my kitties used that with their partners even if they were young.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! You should have seen Egypt guy. He was a very forward dude.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The heat messes with your head—trust me, you don’t want to know!”

“Ok… Plagg! Claws out!” The little cat god was sucked into the ring, the magical energy flaring forth to form the suit, mask, ears and tail. With the transformation over, Chat Noir left the room through the window.

He raced towards the TV station and sneaked in from the roof, finding his way to the room where the interview is supposed to take place and then dropping down on the couch, startling Nadja.

“Which way did you come in?” asked the reporter as she looked around, only seeing the one ground entrance.

“Secret celebrity door! I see Lady Monarch and the others are running late.”

“Wait, weren’t you going to come here together?”

“Wanna hear a secret?” Nadja nodded, her earlier question forgotten. “I love chouquettes!” he said, taking one and eating it.

“Is that the sizzling information I’ve been promised?” asked Nadja’s boss thorough the earpiece.

“No, of course not!... Yes, don’t worry! It’ll be great!”

“We’re going live in 20, 19, 18, 17,16…”

 _Where are you heroes?_ thought Nadja, beginning to worry.

“12, 11, 10, 9...”

“Eight seconds from the greatest fail in TV history.”

“5, 4, 3—“ The door was suddenly kicked open, Coccinelle using her yo-yo to swing to her spot on the couch while Lady Monarch flew in with the help of her butterflies.

“Apologies for being late Nadja, me and Coccinelle were…” trailed off Coccinelle snickered before butting in.

“Doing stuff.”

“No! Well I had some civilian business to clear from my schedule so that kind of applies… please tell me the cameras are still off.” said Lady Monarch, some pink dusting her cheeks.

Nadja decided to not reveal the obvious info Coccinelle got out of Lady Monarch and began the interview by introducing herself. The lines of question were about what was going behind the curtains with the heroes, things like the night/day split (“It makes it easier for everyone to have a stable schedule and not jump in whenever the villains attack!”), the miraculouses (“They’re these jewels that give us powers! Lady Monarch here is kind of their guardian and decides who is worthy of using them.” “Not kind of. I am.”) and about their relationships (“What? No, me and Chat are not together! I used to sort of like him, but—“ “You liked me?!” “Yes, sort of, but I’ve found somebody else now.” _This is so going up on ‘Butterfly-cat News’ when I get back home._ )

* * *

Meanwhile, the Lunar team was out and about, looking for a way to find the villain lair. Paon Royal and Volpina had only one clue to go off on: the building was abandoned. Paon sighed as he cut another building off the list, Volpina standing right next to him, cutting a building from her own list.

“This is going to take forever! <coughing>” said Paon, Volpina coming near to pat his back and wait until his coughing fit died down. She took the time to take in his business-like hero costume. On his chest he wore the brooch. His body was covered from neck down in what looked like a black bodysuit and over it he wore a pair of dark blue pants and a double breasted dark blue coat with a peacock tail feathers design. He had light blue skin and black circles around his eyes that made the purple sclera and pink iris they had pop. Finally, he had pointed back silver hair with a large feather on the front. Once the coughing was done he leaned on the nearest wall to catch his breath. “Why did I have to end up with the broken miraculous?” he asked with a weak voice.

“Well, it’s not like you knew from the start that it was broken. I’m pretty sure the first time you found that thing you thought it was just a simple brooch.”

“<weak laugh> I did think that… Do you think she’ll figure out what’s the problem soon?”

“Sure! She’s got the mi— Don’t talk! Look over there!” Paon raised an eyebrow but looked in the direction Volpina pointed, seeing Queen Bee and only one Ratata.

“They’re going to the theater!” said Volpina, making Paon chuckle.

“Going in a place with bad reception? Aren’t they curious about the hero interview?” He joked, starting to trail the villains, Volpina running with him side by side.

“Perhaps you should stop talking to, you know, lighten the load on your sore throat?”

“I will not contain my wit, <cough> even if it kills me! <cough>”

“It’s your funeral buddy!”

The two heroes made it to the location where the villains stopped, the majestic bird and sneaky fox seeing them enter the theater through a broken down door. Paon was the first to jump, using his tail feathers to soundlessly glide down, followed by Volpina. Paon looked at the door and then at Volpina with a mischievous grin.

“No, don’t you dare!” warned Volpina.

“Must’ve used a **crow** bar to get in.” he said making his way inside, Volpina muttering something under her breath and trying to keep her chuckle in. The two sneaked inside and arrived at the center, where the two villains were talking to a figure in cyan. The two didn’t get a chance to listen to the conversation as Volpina hit a chair.

“What was that?” asked the figure, the two villains and spotting them. The fight ensued soon after that, the two heroes retreating to get reinforcements.

* * *

The interview was going great and Nadja had high hopes that her show would not get canceled. There just had to be a snag though. It started with the sound of ringing.

“It’s your phone Coccinelle…” said Lady Monarch.

“I don’t have a… These things work as phones?!” asked Coccinelle as she held up her yo-yo.

“Yeah! You should probably answer that since it’s neither of us calling you.” said Chat. Coccinelle answered and was met with Volpina’s desperate plea for a ‘Lucky charm’. She summoned her special ability getting a mattress which Lady Monarch positioned with the help of her butterflies. As if on cue, the wall of the interview room was destroyed, the two night heroes landing on the mattress. In the building entered Queen Bee, Ratata and another figure dressed in a black bodysuit covered with cyan plates wearing a snake head-shaped cyan helmet and a teal cape. The figure put a hand on a bracelet and pulled it back. At the same time, a Fay entered Nadja’s audience meter watch, a white-yellow light covering her and revealing Prime Queen.

“Let’s make a nice show Prime Queen!”

“Tonight’s show will be the best one!” said Prime Queen, pushing a button in her watch. The button press caused all the miraculouses to shine bright purple, blinding everyone. When light dimmed, everyone was in an expansive room with blue walls. At the top stood Prime Queen, a bunch of drone cameras flying around her while the rest were moving around the heroes and villains. Speaking off, all of the super powered people bellow had different appearances.

Lady Monarch had light blue skin, was dressed in a dark blue, four slit dress with the white ends having a pink ‘eye’ that made them resemble peacock tail feathers. The dress also had a fluffy neck and long sleeves with fluff at the end. Her skin was light blue and she had black liner that made her purple and pink eyes pop, one eye partially covered by a large partially translucent feather that was holding her dark blue hair in a high bun. Under the fluffy neck stood the peacock brooch and in her hand she held a fan. Finally she wore black tight fitting shorts and dark blue ballet flats.

Coccinelle was dressed in black leather jumpsuit with a belt tail, cat ears and a top layer that has a slimming double zipper vest. Her eyes were cat like and her hair became longer, with black tips, and was held in a ponytail by a neon green hair tie. The black cat ring sat on her right ring finger. Finally, her staff was in the front right on her belt, placed there for easy reach.

Volpina was dressed in a teal and cyan snake inspired outfit. Her hair was kept in a large bun at the back of her head, the bangs having cyan highlights, and on her face she wore a snake domino mask. Her suit consisted of teal boots that connected to the teal ‘pants’ part of her body suit. The lower (teal) and upper (cyan) parts of her bodysuit were separated by a black belt with a yellow diamond symbol in the center. Her lower torso was segmented by cyan lines while the upper torso had a teal line going through the vertical middle and becoming larger as it reached the neck, covering the entirety of it. Finally, her weapon (a lyre) was placed at her belt.

Chat was dressed in a yellow bodysuit with three black lines going through the horizontal middle. He wore above ankle boots that seamlessly connected to the bodysuit; the same could be said for the black gloves. Instead of a mask he wore a pair of black lens goggles and had antennas. The bee hair comb was sitting on the right side of his hair. Finally his weapon was at his side, just like Queen Bee had it.

Paon was dressed in a tight fit orange and white tracksuit with the fox necklace acting as the zipper. Besides that he wore black boots, black gloves and had the mask and ears of a fox. Finally, he had a buttoned single breasted tailcoat that ended in what looked like a fox tail at the back.

The snake person was dressed in metallic grey and pink armor that had a mouse tail, Ratata wore a domino mask and bodysuit colored red with black spots and Queen Bee was dressed in an office style outfit with a buttoned purple blazer, purple skirt, silver mask, black gloves and high heeled above the ankle boots. She held a cane in her hand and the butterfly brooch acted as the blazer’s single button.

“Welcome to ‘Miraculous Fight’! Tonight you will all fight each other using unfamiliar powers—“

“You would love that to be true, but toucan play at this game!” responded Paon, summoning his flute and thrusting it, the miraculous tool extending to the armor clad villain.

“Yeah… I basically know all the powers of the miraculouses since I’m the guardian!” said Lady Monarch, who turned her one fan into two and began to attack the butterfly villain.

“And I basically used a yo-yo for a long time, so this spinning top will basically **bee** a piece of cake.” said Chat as he advanced towards the ladybug villain together with Coccinelle. Lila was the only one that stood back, the girl noticing how her current miraculous was slowly but surely counting down.

As Queen Bee was using her cane to deflect the fans an idea came to her. She reached with the indescribable sense of the butterfly, the golden butterfly symbol appearing on her face and on the champion’s, surprising her for a second.

“Hey camera hog! If you really think your guys need to swap miraculouses with us to win then I say this is cheating! Your viewers don’t like cheaters, do they?” Prime Queen looked at her watch and saw the ratings dropping. She looked up and pointed a few cameras to her face.

“Maybe, but heroes always find a way to prevail! The reason they have the upper hand is because they have been more observant of the powers of the miraculouses. It’s not my fault the villains got miraculouses they don’t know how to use. The switch was random!” she said enthusiastically, watching how the ratings were climbing back up slowly. She turned all cameras except one towards the fight and began to commentate.

“Bee Hive and Felicia are really going at it with attacking Beetlespots over there, Felicia showing her acrobatics and staff mastery by jumping with it and hitting the villain from very specific angles, while Bee Hive is using his spinning top to trip him up and make openings for her. A true show of team work folks! Moving on to Renard and Mouse Knight, I’d say they are more evenly matched, the mouse villain taking advantage of his armor to tank through the flute hits and— OH! That punch from Mouse Knight must have hurt pretty badly considering his fists are covered in metal. Now back to Lady Kalgi and Bindi, the two are at a bit of a standstill. Lady Kalgi and Bindi are circling each other and waiting for the other to make a move. The only one that seems to be a bit of a bore is Lynda here. What exactly are you doing dear?” asked the champion. Lynda looked up and gestured to her bracelet.

“It keeps counting down for some reason. If I don’t stop the countdown my identity will be revealed on live TV!”

“Lynda, pull the bracelet back and say the words ‘Second chance’!” instructed Lady Kalgi before a coughing fit started and she was hit by the butterfly’s magic cane.

“No!” was the only thing Mouse Knight could say as Lynda did as she was told, a bright light encompassing the entirety of the room. When the light deemed everyone was back in their original positions and had the same miraculouses they did before being switched.

“Retreat!” shouted the snake man and all the villains did just that, leaving the room empty safe for the confused heroes, Nadja and the Fay that stopped in its tracks and flew back to its mistress.

“Well, that was weird… Since every one of you is here though how about we extend this interview. Landies and gentleman we’ll be coming back after these advertisements!” said Nadja, the TV crew getting the hint and cutting to commercials.

“Miraculous ladybug!” the mattress was flown into the air by the butterflies and turned into the magical ladybugs that went around and fixed everything. With the interview for Sun Team somewhat done, they left to let the Lunar Team have their turn. Paon moved to a bathroom and changed back in order to get back at least some of the strength he had while Volpina sat down on a couch thinking about what just did/didn’t happen.

Author’s notes :

  * Mega episode! It’s a bit funny because back in season one I mentioned writing a chapter with a bazillion pages.
  * The reason this chapter was so long is because this will be the transition into the half day half night stories I will tell. Thus this one meets the two types right in the middle, focusing on all the characters a little bit.
  * Prime Queen had the perfect suit in cannon so I couldn’t bring myself to changing her.
  * The snake guys’ helmet is inspired by the one Commander Cobra wore in one of the Gi Joe movies (I can’t remember which one.)
  * Lady Kalgi’s dress ends look like Opal’s ‘dress’ from Steven Universe. If you don’t know what I’m talking about check the wiki.
  * The name Kalgi is Indian and means the head feathers of the peacock. That’s a reference to how Marinette is the ‘head’ of the whole team.
  * Bindi means butterfly in Noongar language.
  * Finally, Lynda means snake. All the names were made up on the spot by Prime Queen, so props to her quick thinking.
  * The fight here basically didn’t happen. The only reason Volpina remembered it was because she basically had the snake miraculous for a short period of time.
  * The fact that Prime Queen was able to swap the miraculouses was because Lady Monarch improvised, not coming up with a power beforehand. So we end up with reality manipulation.




	50. Chapter L : Teddy bears and butlers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greetings everyone!
> 
> I'm here with another exciting chapter where one of the most powerful champions makes his debut!  
> As always, if you wish to, you can drop a comment down below and I'll reply as quickly as possible! Cheers!
> 
> Happy reading!

Marinette was currently in school, the girl helping her father with his bakery lesson. She was doing this with a little help from Adrien, who was more than happy to provide it. He even wore a pair of clothes he didn’t mind to get dirty for today which was good since he often served as the example to not follow during the lessons. Marinette watched the class as they looked at the wonderful emulsion and noticed that Chloe moved to the side to speak on her phone. _< Sigh> Classic Chloe… What is she doing now, I wonder?_

“Now we need to chill it for half an hour. Adrien?”

“Yes Mister Dupain?”

“<chuckle> It’s alright for you to call me Tom. Could you go place this in the cafeteria fridge?”

“On it!” said Adrien as he left the room. He was definitely excited by this considering his energetic walking and ‘emotional light’. Marinette looked at her dad, who began to explain how to whip up egg whites, not noticing the ladybug kwami that peeked out of Alya’s hair to watch her previous wielder leave with the sweet dough. Under the happy exterior of her father’s Marinette could feel a little guilt.

“I like how I’ve been demoted to chopped liver now that Adrien is helping.” she whispered, making the little guilt grow. Before her dad could respond the fire alarm went off.

* * *

At the same time Adrien and his kwami were having a little conversation of their own.

“I guess I wanted to help because I don’t feel like I’m doing enough, you know?” asked Adrien.

“Yeah, I get it. You’re a bleedin’ heart!”

“Hey!”

“Oh come one kid, it was a compliment!”

“<chuckle> Yeah, I know, I was just kitten with you. Do you want a taste?”

“I thought eating this raw was bad for you humans.”

“Not necessarily! Besides, I asked if **you** wanted some.” said Adrien, giving his kwami the side eye.

“…Nah, I’m full—“ he was caught off by the sound of the fire alarm going off. He quickly hid in Adrien’s pants pocket as the boy followed the fire drill instructions and went to the courtyard. He untied his shirt from around his waist and met up with Marinette and his other friends.

“What happened?” asked Adrien, Marinette pointing towards the front where Mister Damocles stood next to the fire captain.

“So, some smart aleck had the bright idea of calling the fire department!” said the principal, making the majority of students gasp in shock, the only ones who didn’t being Marinette, Adrien and Chloe. “Somebody amongst us thought it would be funny to waste the fire captain’s valuable time.

“Yes, in fact if you wouldn’t mind I…” The fire captain tried to escape but his attempt was thwarted by the principal.

“Hold on! I want the guilty party to apologize to you.”

“I bet it was Chloe. Not only would she have the motive, but she also was the one that was talking on the phone earlier.” whispered Marinette.

“I don’t think we could go off of that alone.” said Adrien.

“He’s right, we would need more proof—“ Alya was cut off by Sabrina beginning to speak.

“Mister Damocles, sir?”

“Yes, Miss Raincomprix?”

“Shortly before the alarm went off I saw Chloe talking silently on her phone. Was the person who called whispering?”

“The person… did talk quietly and didn’t give any reason.” said the fire captain.

“Oh please, this is ridiculous! I didn’t call the fire department at all.” defended Chloe.

“Then you wouldn’t have any problem with showing the fire captain your call history Bourgeois.” suggested Marinette, making Alya face palm and Adrien sigh.

“You realize that she could have deleted her phone history, right?” asked Alya.

“Small chance, but alright.” responded Marinette. As if to prove her wrong Chloe walked up to the principal and showed him her clean phone history, surprising everyone.

“Now that we got that out of the way I believe that Sabrina was trying to shift the blame. Felling guilty aren’t we contacts? Or maybe baker girl wants to say something?” said Chloe, a smug smile on her face.

“I’ve got no problem showing that I didn’t call, but if we’re doing this we might as well spent the day checking everyone. Wouldn’t that be a waste of time?” argued Marinette, the fire captain jumping on that comment like a lifeline.

“It would be! I’ve already waited enough sir, I must leave!” said the fire captain as he left. In order to save face Mister Damocles punished the whole school for the call (except Chloe, in order to keep her from calling ‘daddy’). Because of this everyone was forced to clean up the school. Marinette, not willing to accept that she was wrong, went to an out of the way location and called the fire department with her number hidden.

“Hi there! You bozos liked my joke?” whispered Marinette, while using her best impression of Chloe.

“You again? I swear—“ the man on the other end was unable to finish what he wanted to do as she ended the call. She walked back the courtyard and began to help Alya and Nino with cleaning the windows.

“She called.” said Marinette simply as she popped a pill and took a rag to begin helping with the windows.

“Even if she did you can’t prove it Marinette, give it a rest please.” said Alya.

“The bozo on the other end was pretty sure I did it!” said Marinette with the Chloe impression again, making Alya sputter.

“No way…” asked the Nino.

“Yes way.”

“Wow dude! You really don’t fear anything, do you?” he asked incredulously.

“Nope! I was right though and that’s all I wanted.”

“Yes you were right, although the way you found out was a bit wrong.” said Adrien, who came by and continued to broom the floor.

“Considering that she came back smarter from New York, that was the only way to find out for me personally. What did you tell her?”

“I told her that if she keeps this up I’ll stop being friends…”

“Emotional blackmail... Good job sweetie! I didn’t think you had it in you to do something like that.” Marinette pulled Adrien down by his shirt and gave him on the cheek.

“I also told her that she has to be nice.”

“That doesn’t really change much of anything. Listen, sometimes to do some good you’ve got to be the bad guy!”

“No! You’re not infecting him with your way of thinking Marinette.” said Alya as she covered Adrien’s ears.

* * *

After school was out Chloe came home and thought about the things that her childhood friend told her. She was at a bit of a loss for what to do to the point she thought of going out as her villain persona to cause some havoc and get her mind off of it. Fortunately, her butler saw how lost she was and cheered her up with Mr. Cuddly while suggesting she threw a party. Concurrently she came up with an idea of her own.

Chloe decide to throw a party, inviting her entire class as well as her new friend Marc. The latter addition was the one that perturbed Marinette, but she didn’t think of it for long as she was too distracted with Adrien. Chloe was in a room alone with Marc, explaining her plan.

“You want me to… clone you?”

“Yes!”

“I don’t even know if I can do that and you want me to **try it**.”

“Yes! Are you a clone right now? Because you’re acting like a moron.”

“Ok, ok! I’ll try, but don’t get your hopes up. Get squeaky!” his body was covered by dark smog as he changed into Ratata. Once the transformation was done he poked Chloe on the nose with his right hand while with his left he made a sphere of smog that he threw a few feet away. The two watched as the sphere grew in size and then turned into Chloe. The blond and the clone were suddenly hit with a headache, Ratata catching the falling Chloe in her arms while catching the clone with his tail.

“Why… does it… hurt.” spoke the girl through the pain.

“You’re basically using one brain to process information and thoughts from two sources. Where is the nearest medicine cabinet? I’m going to get you two an aspiring or something.” he explained and asked as he put them both on the bed.

“Bathroom… I feel light headed…” said Chloe as she dropped her head on the clone’s knees. Ratata came back with two aspirins and two cups of water. After the two took the medicine they felt better and so the plan could commence. One Chloe would go down there while the other will later come and cause havoc at the party. Chloe (the original) would help the heroes fight off the clone and so she would make herself look like the kindest person to Adrien, resulting in him never wanting to ever cut ties with her. The perfect plan! Chloe (the original) went downstairs to the party and began to try and ‘be nice’ as Adrien put it. She had a few problems with that, but Jean-Luc ‘helped’ her do nice things for the others by holding Mr. Cuddly ( _Is he trying to embarrass me? Why is he constantly placing Mr. Cuddly in the open like that?_ ). She still had the headache from before, which skyrocketed when she saw Marinette and Adrien dancing together. She was very angry with the fact that Marinette stole her friend from her, but the fact that they were dating was pushing it. She stomped over to them in order to put an end to the horrible charade once and for all but she was stopped by her butler holding her teddy bear. When everyone saw they began to laugh, Marinette and Adrien being the only ones who didn’t, sharing a look instead, and she dragged Jean-Claude to the kitchen where she fired him. As a last order he told him to put the bear back to her room before leaving her alone. The clone, having a mental link with the original, ‘saw’ what happened and decided to make her appearance. She began with the easiest thing to do, breaking glasses, tables and pretty much anything in sight. She then moved on to attacking the students there. If only she had moved her attention to the students faster she would have caught Marinette, Adrien and Alya sneaking away from the party room.

Marinette found herself in the kitchen where she saw the butler sitting on the floor, his knees covering his face. Having nowhere else to hide, she made sure to walk around him silently.

“Nooroo, fairy wings rise!” she whispered, the butterfly kwami entering the brooch a lot faster than usual, the magical light forming her suit and magical cane at the same time. She let the white butterfly out and turned it into a Fay.

“Fly away my Fay, and give this directionless butler a new purpose!” she whispered quickly, the Fay flying out and landing on the teddy bear he was holding, the butterfly symbol appearing on his face.

“Greetings, Mr. Cuddlesworth! I am Lady Monarch! I have seen how you were treated by that brat earlier, so I have to ask: This was not the only time she acted irrationally correct? She is used to bossing you around, no? Not caring about you or your well being?”

“Yes, she is!” he responded as he got up and looked to where he heard the voice. He was greeted with the calm face of Lady Monarch, which calmed him down as well.

“Well then, you can prove to her that she is wrong, that you do matter! And you can begin this by helping me apprehend Queen Bee and bring back her miraculous. What do you say to that good sir?”

“I will be in your service! After all, I was fired, my lady.” he said, the white-yellow light encompassing him and shrinking him down to the point he looked like the same teddy bear he once held in his hand, the only difference being that he was lavender with a white belly. Mr. Cuddlesworth jumped up and landed on Lady Monarch’s shoulder, the superhero slowly making her way out of the kitchen. When she arrived she was greeted with the sight of Chat and Coccinelle fighting two Queen Bees.

“Oh, boy…! Ask for the rest of the hive to come help why don’t you?” she deadpanned to herself.

* * *

Adrien and Alya managed to get away from their respective loved ones to transform, the two unknowingly entering hotel rooms that were adjacent to each other.

Adrien let Plagg out of his shirt pocket.

“Well Queen Bee was on this party like a moth on a light! Any idea why?”

“No idea! Shouldn’t we go and, you know, help out?”

“<sigh> Fine. I still think there’s something to that though. Plagg! Claws out!” Plagg entered the ring and unleashed the magical energy that made Adrien’s hero suit, mask, ears and tail.

Alya closed the door behind her as Tikki untangled herself from her wielder’s hair, spitting out tiny hairs.

“We’ve got to find a better place for you to hide in!” said Alya.

“Agreed! Your hair may be large, but I need a proper hiding place on your person… Doesn’t your shirt have an interior pocket?”

“Nope! Anyway it’s hero time, Tikki, spots—“

“Wait! Didn’t you find it weird that Queen Bee crashed this party right after Chloe left?”

“She left with the butler though. She would have to be awfully fast to yell at him and then push him out of the room to transform. Queen Bee practically showed up seconds after she and the butler entered the kitchen, not to mention that I think I saw her leave just as Queen Bee appeared. In short, I don’t think it’s her, although there clearly is some connection which we’ll need to look into. Tikki, spots on!” Tikki flew into the earrings, unleashing the magical energy that made the suit, mask and antennas as she did a spinning back flip. Coccinelle, now ready for battle, excited the hotel room, running into Chat and causing them both to fall to the floor.

“Ouch… If you wanted a tackle hug you could have asked, you know?” said Chat jokingly.

“Yeah, I know! Too bad that was just a regular tackle.” responded Coccinelle, the spotted hero playing along as the two got up.

“Welp, race ya to the fight!” said Chat as he sped off, Coccinelle hot on his tail. The two headed in the party room and saw two Queen Bees braking stuff together. Coccinelle jumped into the fray with little hesitation, stopping one of the bees from hurting a student by deflecting the spinning top with her yo-yo. Chat was quick to follow, using his staff to hit the other Queen Bee over the head. The four began to fight, Queen Bee-1 and Queen Bee-2 spinning their spinning tops rapidly to create shields.

Lady Monarch watched the fight for a second longer before pulling her cane up to hold by the lower section.

“Hop on!” she told the tiny Mr. Cuddlesworth, the champion obeying and holding on to the top part of the cane. She pulled her arm back and sent the champion flying, his trajectory being in the line of sight of Queen Bee-2. That villain stopped spinning her miraculous tool and followed the bear flying in the air. Everyone else did the same and saw the bear landing on Kim and holding on to his back as the teen got up and turned into Love’s Emissary. The faux-champion flew up into the air and began to send arrows towards the villains, pointedly avoiding hitting Coccinelle and Chat. The two took advantage of this and moved to attack from afar, Chat backing up and throwing his collapsed staff at Queen Bee-1. While in the air, his staff split in two and avoiding the villain, the two staffs coming back to hit her in the back of her head.

“What the—? You can have more than one staff?!” asked Coccinelle.

“Apparently!” responded Chat as he caught the two staffs and connected them. Lady Monarch offered her own help in the form of throwing her cane at one of the Queen Bees and controlling its direction from her location, making it sweep around a few times until the bee villains backed away from the faux-champion.

“And you can use the force on your cane?!”

“The correct terminology is ‘Call-back’. I can have my cane fly back to me, but with some focus I can make it fly towards a target of my choosing.” as she said that one of the bee villains hit the cane midair, causing it to fall down. With Lady Monarch distracted, the other bee villain attacked the faux-champion, pulling him down to the ground. The champion jumped away, causing Kim to turn back into his normal self and land on the bee villain. Mr. Cuddlesworth then landed on the ground and went under a table, hugging the leg of Ivan. From under there burst out Ironheart, who prepared to clap.

“HANDS ON EARS!” he warned before clapping, making a very loud noise that sent the two bee villains reeling. Queen Bee-1 and -2 left to go upstairs as Ironheart turned back into Ivan. Mr. Cuddlesworth was just about to activate Gamer when Lady Monarch stopped him and redirected him towards Invoclustrator. With him active Lady Monarch, Chat and Coccinelle received hover boards, the latter summoning her ‘Lucky charm’ (a small marble ball) as well.

“Christmas came a little late, but I can’t blame Santa for wanting to hold on to these a little longer!” said Chat excitedly as he got on. The heroes began to fly up towards the roof where the villains retreated.

“Queen Bee was quick to show up!” said Lady Monarch.

“I know, right! She must have been at the party before she attacked.”

“You mean like you were?” asked Invoclustrator and Mr. Cuddlesworth, making Chat and Coccinelle very uncomfortable. To the rescue came Lady Monarch.

“I was in the hotel… Are you referring to the party downstairs? The one with most of my previous champions present?”

“Yes, nice alibi my lady!”

“You two can believe whatever you wish. I know that Lady Wifi downstairs would look at the facts presented, and not speculate on things that have no tangible proof. If we apply the same logic from here then we could say that Chat was a member of the party that took place at the Agreste Mansion, even though he was on night patrol with me that night.” With that conversation finished the heroes, champion and faux-champion arrived on the roof where the two bee villains and Ratata stood.

Queen Bee-1 (or was that-2) began to attack the faux-champion as Ratata and Queen Bee-2 (or was that-1) attacked the heroes. Lady Monarch pulled the same trick from before and made the cane fly around to confuse Ratata and Queen Bee-2, Chat keeping close to protect the weaponless hero as Coccinelle went to help Invoclustrator with Queen Bee-1. The cane stopped midair and turned to catch Ratata by the hood, making him fly close enough to Chat that the cat hero could hold him down with his staff. Both Queen Bees stopped dead in their tracks, Invoclustrator taking advantage and painting a cage around Queen Bee-1 while Coccinelle let the marble ball roll on the ground near the other one.

“Is it ok for you to get rid of the clone? Or do you want milady to take the pendant and stop the clone from existing?” Ratata responded by making Queen Bee-1 disappear, surprising everyone. Queen Bee, who was secretly turning towards the faux-champion, took that chance to attack Invoclustrator. Unfortunately for her she slipped on the tiny marble that Coccinelle set down earlier, missing Invoclustrator. Instead she hit Mr. Cuddlesworth, causing him to fall off the roof. Ratata, who weaved his tail around Chat’s staff while he was distracted, pushed, causing the hero to fall back and make Lady Monarch fall as well. The two villains made a quick exit as the heroes recovered, Coccinelle pulling Mr. Cuddlesworth back up before he turned back into Jean, Lady Monarch running away to hide before her timer ran out. Coccinelle used her ‘Miraculous ladybug’ to clean up everything, the spotted hero then leaving to go hide as well. Chat helped the butler and Nathaniel to get off the roof before going to rejoin the party. A few minutes later Marinette, Adrien and Alya ran into each other, the blogger hugging her best friend before going to check if her boyfriend was still in one piece.

Author’s notes:

  * I didn’t really like how Despair Bear was so weak in cannon, so I made Mr. Cuddlesworth much stronger, with the ability to empower previous champions as long as he held on to the person in question. The one with Ironheart was just a thing I thought up on the spot when I realized how funny it would be for the giant hero to pop up from a relatively small table.
  * Ratata can make clones of everyone, not just himself. That’s the upgrade he’s got. Speaking of upgrades Adrien would soon ask about the secondary power of the black cat miraculous.
  * Not in the next episode though, as we will be moving on to the first proper Lunar Team chapter. Volpina and Paon Royal will be getting their new partner!




	51. Chapter LI : Birds, foxes and turtles of the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first 'night' episode!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!   
> I'm here once again to thank you for your continued support! I'm going to be honest, recently I've been having a little bit of art block but I'm pushing through, hoping to get some more inspiration soon! Anyway, thank you for the kudos and comments, I really appreciate them!
> 
> Happy reading!

A figure dressed in green was currently running on roofs. He wore a bodysuit with a hoodie and had a carapace on his back. The green figure made his way to Notre Dame, finding an open window and entering. Once inside he was greeted with two other figures, presumably his partners. One was sitting down while the other waved to him energetically before turning on her flashlight to reveal…

“Lila?!” he asked, looking at the girl who had a wide grin spread on her face and the little fox kwami that sat on her shoulder happily munching on some chocolate.

“Yep! It’s me Lila the super fox leader! And with me is the lustrous Paon Royal.” she said, pointing the flashlight towards the other figure, revealing him to be Mister Agreste.

“Can you please turn the flashlight off? <cough> Night owls like me don’t like the light.” he said, keeping his hand in front of his face. From what the turtle hero could gather he was dressed in a blue suit with a black shirt, faded pink collared waistcoat and wore no glasses. Instead of his usual ascot he wore a brooch in the shape of a nine-tailed peacock. On his shoulder stood a small peacock kwami that was eating peanuts. Considering the situation he decided to ask.

“Are you dudes… allowed to know each other’s identities?” his question made Mister Agreste get up and walk up to him.

“’allowed’ implies that Lady Monarch has control over us. <cough> Considering that she doesn’t know who I am and that Volpina <cough> got her miraculous from Chai I would say that she can’t really force us to give them back. It is your choice if you want to reveal your identity, like it was our choice to reveal ours. <coughing> Until then could you give me the bracelets Lady Monarch promised would help with my condition… ‘ **dude’**?” saying that made the two kwamis laugh.

“Yay, the old Gabe is back! I really was wondering when the childish part of you would peak its head back up.” said Duusu after her laughing died down.

“Considering he’s half asleep and spending his time around a bunch of sunshines like us I wouldn’t put it past him to become more fun.” added Trixx.

“So what’s your hero name? I didn’t really get to watch the news.” asked Lila.

“Carapace! And I do have the bracelets on me. I put them in my… pocket…” he responded, realizing that his hero suit didn’t have pockets. Lila laughed and Mister Agreste face palmed, suppressing a chuckle himself. “Wayzz! Shell off!” there was a green light and then stood Nino in front of them, the teen pulling out four bracelets and giving them to the man. Mister Agreste sat down and began to put them on his two wrists and above his ankles, sighing as he felt the magical objects working, the dizziness and urge to cough being reduced.

“You all know each other’s identities… Ugh, Lady Monarch was right!” said Wayzz.

“Working?” asked Lila.

“Like a charm.” responded Mister Agreste before turning his attention to Wayzz. “Does Lady Monarch know who I am?”

“No, she just knows that Volpina knows. And know the three of you know who the other one is. I would say that it is bad, but considering that Volpina’s identity is not hidden—“

“—you can’t really object, yeah, yeah, yeah! Goodness I missed you and your long responses shelly! How are you feeling after your previous wielder died?” asked Duusu.

“I am still not alright but… I’m doing better… shouldn’t we go and do our hero duties now?” he asked.

“We should. Duusu… spread my feathers!” Duusu spun into the miraculous, the energy flaring out as Mister Agreste tapped his foot, directing the transformation upwards. Lila activated her miraculous as well, doing her pirouette as she transformed. The two heroes watched as Nino did his transformation in a street style dance move. With the heroes ready, they left Notre Dame, beginning with their mission of looking for Chai’s secret base. The first one on the list was an abandoned factory and low and behold they found something: a crook with a cowboy suit and a bag was talking with the snake villain from before as the other people there were packing and putting boxes in cars. Once a car was full it was sent on its way. By the time the heroes had gotten close enough to hear the snake villain already left.

“This is an entire drug operation. Why is Chai talking to those dudes?” asked Carapace.

“Perhaps they made a deal of some sort, like a patronage contract or something else like that” responded Paon.

“Eh, whatever the case he picked an awfully cliché way of doing things. How about we go down there and put an end to it?” asked Volpina before jumping down, Paon and Carapace reluctantly following. “Hands in the air crooks! The heroes have come to kick your butts!” said Volpina as she made her flute appear. Paon removed his fan and entered a fighting stance, Carapace doing the same with his shield. A laugh could be heard from the front entrance, an averaged size and muscular figure coming out of the shadows. He was dressed in a red and yellow bodysuit and had knight-like gauntlets and boots than shone with green light.

“You better get out of here boys! There’s goin’ to be a hella of a lot of fighting in the following minutes!” said the man. The crooks followed the orders and made a run for it, many of them taking bags of the drugs with them, saying ‘Goodbye boss!’. The heroes turned their attention to the villain who was still inside with them. Volpina crept closer to the villain while Carapace stood near Paon, ready to use his shield in case the villain had long-range capabilities.

“Nice suit, Halloween has come and gone though!” taunted Volpina.

“The same could be said about you Foxy!” responded the villain. He held his fist forward and his gauntlet shone brightly, a powerful blast of sound following. The blast shot Volpina back into a wall, the vixen hero grunting in pain as she got back up. Carapace and Paon were still standing there, both heroes wanting to help, but not wanting to get hit themselves. The villain did not care about the fact that they were standing still and began to shoot them as well. Paon moved to help Volpina, the two beginning to avoid the shots while Carapace activated his secondary power ‘Redirect’ to slowly make his way closer to the villain. The villain in turn stopped shooting and propelled himself up into the air, settling on one of the upper walkways, right where Volpina and Paon stopped to catch their breath. The two heroes jumped, giving Carapace the space to execute the second part of his power. The turtle hero threw the shinning shield weakly in order to compensate for the force it received from the villain’s earlier barrage. The shield flew up into the air with enough speed to break the walkway in two as well as to remove it from the wall. The shield continued up as the villain stabilized himself in the air, rebounding off the roof and off a wall and hitting the man as he was about to attack the defenseless Carapace. When the shield hit, the villain opened his hand, causing all of the sound waves to travel incoherently and make the already old and unstable building even more unstable. Everyone quickly left the building, Paon placing a crimson feather inside Volpina’s resummoned flute as Carapace ran after the villain. The red feather mask appeared in front of both Paon and Volpina’s faces, the former beginning to cough and lose balance as the latter supported him so he would not fall over. A red light appeared in front of them, becoming larger until it turned into the Jainhuren: a red-orange nine tailed fox.

“Huli!” said Volpina in delight, the Jainhuren coming closer to be pet by her master.

“Huli? <cough>” asked Paon.

“Yeah! Ever since I was a champion I had this dream where I was Huli the nine tailed fox. This is how I looked in that dream.” responded the vixen hero as Huli sat down and allowed the two to climb up on her back (“It’s so soft!”). Huli got up and began running after the villain, using her colossal strength to jump up on roofs. Soon, Volpina, Paon and the Jainhuren reached the location where the villain and Carapace fought in plain view of the public.

“What can she do, pops?” asked Volpina excitedly as the two got off.

“Don’t… call me pops <cough>.” responded Paon, making the vixen hero giggle.

“Sorry for ruffling your feathers! Now seriously though, what are her powers?”

“Besides tracking Chai’s corruption, not much. She has super strength and her size is an advantage, but that’s it.”

“Oh, boo! At least you’re still fluffy Huli. Now go get ‘im girl!” ordered Volpina, she and Paon following close behind to attack. The villain was very surprised to see the giant fox, so he did what he thought was the best option: he ran. Huli however stopped him, pushing him back into the metaphorical ring.

“What the hell is this abomination? You can’t just call for help, it’s not fair!”

“Why so shocked? You should have thought of ‘fair’ when you decided to be evil!” responded Paon, the peacock hero managing to stop a bout of coughing so the dramatic response wouldn’t be ruined.

“Hey… that’s a good name. Paris, from now on you will call me THE SHOCKER!!!” he shouted as he interconnected his fingers and fired off a blast that blew Huli away. With the Jainhuren out of the way he ran away as Paon revoked Huli and lost his balance. Volpina helped him by supporting a part of his weight, the fox and peacock hero leaving the scene. Carapace watched them go and left, realizing that there was no point in going after the villain anymore. He left as well, going in a different direction, towards home. On the way there many thoughts went through his head, one of the most prevalent ones being the thought of his lady choosing wrong.

All the members of the Lunar team were so preoccupied with getting back home after the fight that none of them looked back to see the few people hurt, among them being a person with a broken cane.

Author’s notes:

  * This was the night episode!
  * The shocker is only one of the few people that will become Chai’s night team from now on.
  * I wonder how he made them though. Shocker was a completely normal person a few seconds before telling his guys to leave.




	52. Chapter LII : “I need meaning!”

Marinette woke up slowly, feeling her mind groggy, her back muscles aching and her body cold. She opened her eyes and then blinked a few times so they would focus, the image of her tired and relieved parents appearing in front of her. She took in their appearance, her dad’s unshaven face— the little hairs indicated that he hadn’t shaved in two days— her mom’s small eye bags, indicating that she didn’t sleep, both mother and daughter having the problem with eye bags appearing even though they didn’t miss too much sleep. She burst out crying as she remembered what happened and realized she was the cause of their worry.

“Don’t cry dear, everything is alright now! Is your back aching?” said her mother.

“It’s <sniff> not the fact that I’m hurt that is making me cry… It’s the fact that I scared you <sniff> I was stupid! I went out at night because I couldn’t sleep and didn’t feel like doing anything else. I shouldn’t have left… I should’ve stayed home! <sobbing>” Her sobbing was reduced by the feeling of a winged brooch being pushed into her hand.

“Everything is alright now Marinette. We are a little upset over what you did, but it kind of turned out for the better!” said her dad.

“<sniff> What do you mean…” she trailed off as her brain keyed in on a specific sensation, or, rather, the lack thereof. “My leg…!” she suddenly shot up to sit straight, scaring her parents, the two adults urging her to sit back down and relax. She ignored their pleads for the current thing that mattered more. She brushed her left hand on her leg, occasionally squeezing a bit. She felt for the part of her leg that became misshapen after the operation to save it.

“Nothing… No pain…” she turned towards her parents who had stopped talking when they saw what Marinette was doing. The young fashion designer then turned towards the IV and squeezed the tube. She felt the pain coming back, her back ache turning into a throbbing sensation and her head starting to hurt, but her leg didn’t begin to hurt at all. She thought back to what happened: the villain released a big blast of sound to send himself away, the blast causing a bunch of people to be launched any which way. She had just gotten there when it happened so she didn’t remove her helmet, which probably saved her from outright hurting the head on impact. Just before blacking out she felt the familiar sensation of blood and the pain in her back, but nothing else.

“That’s because you bled! The doctors had to operate on you to stop the bleeding.” said Sabine. When Marinette kept staring she continued with: “You were talking to yourself dear.”

After a few more minutes of waiting her doctor came in and told them that she’s ok to leave on the condition that she doesn’t walk without help so her stitches don’t rip out. Her parents quickly gave Marinette some clothes to wear and left, the girl being wheel chaired out to her parent’s car. Coincidentally, her bike was affixed on top of it. She asked her parents about that and received in return that she won’t be allowed to use it for a while as punishment. She considered that fair, since it was with the help of that bike that she got to the battle in the first place. When she got home she found her phone in her room, the object completely pristine. _Weird, I thought for sure the screen would have broken._

“It’s a good thing it didn’t, right?” Nooroo suddenly appeared on her shoulder, startling her.

“What didn’t do what?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“Your phone screen didn’t break.”

“How did you know—“

“You talked out loud!”

“… No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did… Are you ok Mari?” asked Nooroo, the little kwami eyeing her suspiciously.

“Perfectly fine! Awesome! Spiffy! Did I miss anything while I was asleep?” asked Marinette as she made her way to her desk.

“ ~~Help!~~ Actually, yes!” responded Nooroo.

* * *

Marinette was sitting in her garden on her reading chair, wrapped in her blanket since she felt cold, having pulled the chair to the front of her whiteboard. She kept twirling her marker as she tried to make heads of tails of this and failing. The things that were done just didn’t add up to her. The first thing that happened was Volpina losing her miraculous, the villains having ambushed her and taken the fox necklace before anyone could come and help. The next thing that happened was the theft in plain daylight of an artifact that newly appeared at the museum and seemed to have the ‘Order of the guardians’ symbol on it. The next thing that happened was the appearance of Shocker during the day instead of Queen Bee and Ratata, stealing large quantities of money and being an actual villain no less. It just didn’t make sense. It didn’t add up. Marinette always prided herself for her logical and creative thinking that allowed her to be an amazing strategist and fashion designer, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what the villains were planning no matter how out of the box she thought. She decided to leave it for now and talk to Alya about it tomorrow.

* * *

“And it just doesn’t make sense! In your absence I made a semi correct schedule of when the villain Bee and Rat would show up and we were able to get the upper hand on them. Now they switched it up. They aren’t showing their faces at all! Instead there’s this new Shocker guy Nino told me about. Besides that the villains stole this statue thing from the museum. It just got here from the last place it was held at too! Everything is suddenly so weird…” said Alya.

Marinette blinked a few times and looked around, noticing that she was in her favorite place at the library.

“Yeah… It really doesn’t make sense!” responded the young fashion designer, looking down at the little kwami that was eating a macaroon on the table and glaring at the few strands of hair next to her.

“I wish Lady Monarch was around to help us! She’d probably pull out her marker and whiteboard and make some diagram that connected everything together, solving the mystery.” said Alya. _If only she knew…_

“Know what?” asked the blogger.

“What?”

“You said If only she knew— You know what, it doesn’t matter! How are you felling girl? With the leg I mean.” asked the blogger.

“…I’m ok! It’s pretty good to no longer be in pain, but I feel like something is wrong… Missing…”

“What do you mean? Does it still hurt from time to time?”

“No! It’s… <sigh> A scientist doesn’t have a hand… so he makes a prosthetic! He builds it, programs it and attaches it to his stump. The problem however, is that he overlooked a coding error, so the hand will occasionally jerk. He decides to work on it to fix it and then the jerk is gone. The scientist however is not too pleased since he got used—“

“—You’re missing the fact that your leg hurts. You made the hurt feel normal and now you feel like something is missing.”

“You got that from the scientist and the…?”

“Yeah, and I’ve got to say you’re incredible Marinette! You’re the only person that doesn’t feel happy about a good thing happening in her life.” she said as she began to laugh a little, her laughter dying down as she put on her thinking face.

“Hey! I do feel happy, it’s just that—“

“I got it! Without the leg pain you have no reason to be grumpy, no reason to blame Chloe for what happened two years ago anymore. If you’re not grumpy then you have to be happy and you’re no longer cap—“ Alya was cut off by the school shaking, a voice coming on the speakers that urged everyone to exit the building quickly and orderly since Shocker appeared on the premises. Marinette urged Alya to go and be a hero, promising that they would come back to this discussion afterwards. Marinette tried turning into Lady Monarch, but for some reason her miraculous was acting weird… There was Nooroo anywhere to be seen either. _I guess the hard way it is._

* * *

Up on the roof Chat and Coccinelle worked together in keeping Shocker from bringing down the building, the two of them having a pleasant surprise in the form of a person dressed in red attacking the villain.

“Who are you?!” asked Coccinelle, looking at the figure in red: she had blue hair pulled into a ponytail, a pair of red, black tipped horns pointing straight up; a mask with black red and yellow, a symbol in the middle of her chest of what looked to be the elements of water, air and lightning’ her suit was half red half black, a her legs spiraling between the two colors.

“Call me Dragoness! Lady Monarch sent me!”

“She did?” asked Chat.

“Yes! Now summon your Cataclysm, and you, the Lucky charm!” said Seamstress as she got close enough to the hero duo. The two heroes nodded and summoned their special abilities, the spotted hero getting a rubber plate. Dragoness quickly took it from her and jumped, positioning herself right above Shocker. The villain fired a blast of sound at Dragoness with a shout of ‘YOU THINK THAT TINY THING CAN PROTECT YOU!?’ What he didn’t realize was how the recoil caused the cracks in the roof to become bigger (the hole in the roof that Dragoness wanted didn’t appear however), but the sound allowed Chat to sneak close and destroy that part of the roof, making Shocker fall. Dragoness threw the plate at Coccinelle before she exclaimed the words ‘Wind Dragon’, turning into a clod that followed the villain down, she turned back into human form and exclaimed ‘Lightning Dragon’, electrifying the villain so hard his gauntlets cracked. A mud brown butterfly flew out. _Now Coccinelle has to catch and purify it!_ thought Dragoness to herself. At the same time the spotted hero opened up her yo-yo, caught the butterfly and then let it go, its white color restored.

“How did you know to purify the butterfly?” asked Seamstress, confused by Coccinelle’s knowledge of purification.

“You… just told me to catch and purify it…”

“No I didn’t, I only though… it.” _Am I speaking out loud now?_ thought Marinette to test something.

“Yeah, you just did. Are you ok Dragoness?” asked Chat, concerned.

“I need to go!” replied the dragon hero quickly.

* * *

Marinette was in her garden sitting in her reading chair. It was dark outside. The girl suddenly shot up from her seat, looking around. She then turned to Longg, the little dragon kwami looking at her from his spot on the desk as he was from a watermelon slice.

“Is something the—“

“How did I get here!?” she asked, at her wit’s end.

“…You walked up the stairs?”

“No, not in the garden! How did I get back home?”

“Your mom came to pick you up. Why? Did you forget?”

“N-No…! It’s just that I thought I went back home by myself after the fight.” said Marinette, the girl beginning to walk in circles.

“What fight are you speaking of?” asked Longg, making the young fashion designer stare at him incredulously.

“…The one that happened today… I… ‘borrowed’ your miraculous from D’argencourt and defeated Shocker.”

“…That did not happen... The villain somehow managed to escape our grasp. perhaps you dreamt it up? You did fall asleep as you were trying to decode more of the tome.” suggested Longg, the red kwami gesturing to the tome that was on the desk. Marinette ran back to her desk and picked up the tome, paging thorough it.

“Is everything alright Marinette?” asked the dragon kwami, flying over to sit on her shoulder.

“No! Nothing is alright! If I imagined the fight then maybe I imagined the talk I had with Alya too. Did I even go to school today?” _And if I did then why can’t I remember what happened?_

“You did go to school. And if you cannot remember what you did then I would be obliged to tell you.” Marinette stopped looking at her tome and turned to Longg.

“What did I do today?”

“Well, you had your classes, talked with Alya about the leg and how liberating it feels to finally have no more pain, ate lunch with Adrien in his room and you **kissed him on the lips**! That was quite bol—“

“—No… I never even considered doing that yet. And my leg doesn’t hurt but it doesn’t feel liberating, but rather constricting, since I expect it to hurt and yet it doesn’t! All you’re telling me is stuff I want to hear!”

“Mari? Perhaps you—“

“Don’t! Do not **even**! Why are you calling me that? That’s just… how I want **Nooroo** to call me… You told me all the stuff I wanted to hear about going to school today… my butterfly miraculous is not working… this… This **isn’t** real. You aren’t real I’m not talking to the real Longg, you’re just a figment of my mind!”

“Mari, stop you’re not making any sense!”

“No! **What’s happening here** is not making any sense because I’m losing my mind! I need to talk to the team, they have to help get back to reality.”

* * *

Lady Monarch was currently in the Notre Dame with Coccinelle, Carapace, Chat and Paon… It was freezing… The heroes were watching her as she walked back and forth her cane held behind her back. Eventually, Coccinelle broke the silence.

“So, <yawn> care to explain why you asked us all here Lady Monarch?”

“Yes! Right!... Uh… I think I’m losing my mind.”

“What!? But you can’t, you’re like our leader, we need you. What are we going to do without you?” asked Chat, the cat hero clearly distraught with these news.

“I can’t be your leader anymore Chat! I’m resigning. There’s clearly something wrong with me and I need to fix that first.”

“If it **can** be fixed.” commented Paon.

“Right… If it can be fixed. If not, then I’ll have to give the butterfly miraculous to someone else permanently. Anyway, the reason I called you all here is because I am giving up my position as leader and giving it to Coccinelle. Until I’m better I want you to use the butterfly for me. I’ll use the Ladybug in your place and Paon will be mission control for me since there is no need to fight any villains at night anymore.”

“Why me?” asked Paon.

“Because out of everyone here you’re both an adult and the only other person that could help me with my inability to tell what’s reality and what’s fantasy.”

“And what if I don’t want to help?” asked the peacock hero, his gaze steely.

"Wha—? No! You’ve got to! I want to have somebody supervising me!” said Lady Monarch desperately.

“Don’t worry Lady Monarch, I can be your mission control if you want.” said Carapace, the turtle hero placing his hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. Lady Monarch looked at him like he had grown a second head, realization striking her: he didn’t use ‘my lady’ to address her, just like Alya didn’t use ‘my lady’ when she talked about whiteboard.

“I’m still hallucinating…” she whispered softly.

“How can you tell?” asked Paon, a knowing smile on his face, arms crossed.

“Because Coccinelle and Carapace are not calling me ‘my lady’… and everyone except you is doing what I want, without questioning it, which means that they are constructs of my mind designed to keep me happy and cozy here while in the real world I’m sleeping.”

“Oh come on milady! If this was a hallucination then why are the villains unpredictable? If everyone is did what you wanted then the villains wouldn’t be unpredictable, but rather they would be easy to read. If this were a fantasy hallucination we’d be done with them already.” reasoned Chat, the cat hero led her to the nearest seat.

“Would they though?” asked Paon.

“Ok, that’s enough cockatoo! The only thing you’re doing is making her more paranoid. If we want her to get back to her normal self then we most help her be calm.” said Coccinelle. _She wants to shut him up because he’s making sense. If the villains were easy to beat then the fantasy would be over. There would be no reason to sleep anymore. I’ve got to push my brain to the point it can’t maintain the hallucination!_ Lady Monarch ordered her butterflies to fly her up and to the roof, everyone following her. Once on the roof she removed her brooch turning back into Marinette, to their shock, except of Paon. She stepped back until she was on the edge of the roof.

“Marinette stop, you’re going to kill yourself!” said Coccinelle.

“If this is a hallucination then that means I’m not real, you’re not real, this is **not real**!”

“If this is a hallucination then maybe you’re going to wake up on your own, you don’t have to test that theory by plummeting to your doom!” reasoned Carapace.

“And not only that, but if this is a hallucination you should enjoy it while it lasts princess! You’re leg is fine, you have your friends with you…” said Chat.

“If this is a hallucination then it doesn’t mean anything. **I need meaning!** ” Marinette made eye contact with Paon, noticing that he looked at her with the same eyes she looked upon this interesting, unique and complex world. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to, since she already knew that this world wasn’t the perfect fantasy that her stupid unconscious tried to make it sound like. I was a world where Volpina lost her miraculous despite her best efforts to keep Chai away from her.

Marinette threw them the brooch saying ‘If I’m wrong then I’m sorry!’ and took the plunge, none of the heroes moving to stop her. She hit the ground with a resounding thud, in her blackening vision the girl seeing Paon look at her, his irises glowing pink menacingly…

“Am I… right…?”

_“Like always… that’s what I always hated about you… **princess**.”_ came the reply of her own voice, but filled coldness, malice and disgust covered by sweet acrid tone…

* * *

Marinette woke up slowly, feeling her mind groggy and her back muscles aching. She opened her eyes and then blinked a few times so they would focus. It was dark and she was dressed in normal clothes, except she was wearing a… skirt? She sat up and looked over to see Alya, as Coccinelle looking at her.

“I… didn’t even do anything…”she mumbled, confused.

“…What are you talking about?” asked Marinette.

Author’s notes:

  * A trippy episode today. If you’re wandering, the reason Marinette was there at the scene where Shocker fought the Lunar Team was because she felt her Fay being corrupted. She did experience pain but not as much as Tikki would have though.
  * No more pain for Marinette! I wonder how that happened…
  * As always, if you have any questions feel free to comment.




	53. Out with the old, in with the new!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT UPDATE! PLEASE READ!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE!

**Greetings everyone! Critical Damage here!**

I have sad and good news for you... For a long while now I have had some artist's block with my current work (and all other projects that I am planning beyond the finale of this fic into the future). In addition to this, I have lost contact with the cannon of my own story, which lead me to read my older chapters. As I did a sense of dissatisfaction had settled into me: ever since I have began my writer's journey with you guys back in 2019 my writing style has changed and improved; as such, the old work i have made (all 52 chapters which were written way before my first post on the site) has begun to no longer reflect my writing talent and the ideas for how I want to shape the story.

The bad news is that from this week on I'm going to cancel Miraculous Monarch...

* * *

**There is a good news however!**

I have already begun working on a rewrite of this story (which I will call **REDUX** from here on out).

The **REDUX** will possess the following changes:

  * **a new chapter format, essentially longer chapters, which gives me more breathing room for scenes and dialogue (because I've felt like I rushed through a lot of things). The format will be 8-10 pages long (my original format had 7 or more pages, never up to 10)**
  * **a slightly modified narrative which will emphasize certain ideas which I failed to translate across originally (relation ships, personalities of some characters and even some events will be slightly altered).**
  * **The main villain, Chai, which I wanted to be scary, but turned out to be a bit goofy and pushover, will be reconstructed so he could actually be a main villain that doesn't feel like it's part of a Saturday morning cartoon.**
  * **Some of my additional work (Miraculous Shorts) will be reworked into the story proper.**



Just because I'm making the **REDUX** does not mean this work will disappear. It will still remain here and you can read it if you want. Just know that the story is getting, what I hope to be, an upgrade. I really want to make something better for you guys!

I hope I can get the same support as I had for this work since this has been my one hobby that made me so **incredibly** happy!

All week I'll be posting and I encourage you all to ask me any questions you wish (I'll try to respond to them without spoiling too much) and **this Saturday I'll post a sneak peek** of the **new first chapter** , all in preparation for the launch of the **REDUX**!

I don't wish for the journey I started in 2019 to end and I hope you guys feel the same!

Your friendly writer, Critical Damage, signing out!

See you tomorrow and happy reading!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS UPDATE WAS VERY IMPORTANT! THANK YOU FOR READING!


	54. Character analysis: Marinette 'House' Dupain-Cheng

Greetings! Critical Damage here to talk about Marinette!

My original vision of my version of Marinette was for her to act similar to House but still retain the core of her personality, her kindness and want for justice. It's what makes her shine after all.

However as I started writing I inadvertently made her a watered down version of both her original self AND House, flip flopping between each characteristics like she had a switched that I flipped. her personality did not feel cohesive to me at all.

As such in the REDUX this is how I'll try (and hopefully succeed) to make her: Marinette will be a thought, cold and calculated young lady. In talking with others she would openly show her coldness and be sarcastic, the only exception being her parents, her closer friends (to whom she is a little nicer) and Nooroo (to whom she is a complete sweetheart). As Lady Monarch her personality would be more along the lines of theatrical and flamboyant. She would often talk to her champions and make up a plan for how to save the day and defeat the villains! If it comes to it she would take full control of the champion.

In terms of appearance she will remain largely the same, with two key differences: height and clothes. I've decided to go with the cannon interpretation of the Butterfly brooch form of camouflage (basically none), and so Marinette would now be wearing purple in any given attire to match the brooch. In addition I've decided to give her a double breasted, 3 button, gray blazer as the first outfit she gets to wear in the story. Yes, I said first, as I would like to have some variation with her.

Also I've decided that her original dynamic with the Agreste's would be completely changed: Adrien would be head over heels for her, while she would ignore his advances (a revers crush basically) and she would no longer have the mentor-student thing with Gabe, as she won't be studying under him anymore. A student-mentor relation ship would be present in the story however, just not with her as part of it.

In terms of her relationships with her friends, she first has her NEW friend outside of school, Melodie! This is the same Melodie from the 'Quantic kids' prototype of Miraculous Ladybug. Melodie will be the first person who knows about Marinette's miraculous situation, and she knows from before the beginning of my cannon. Alya and Marinette will essetially have the House and Wilson dynamic from House M.D.

That is all I can say without entering major spoiler territory! As always...

Happy reading!


	55. Character analysis: Gabriel and Adrien Agreste

Greetings! Critical Damage back with another character analysis!

Gabriel and Adrien are family. My original idea for my fic was to have them grow closer and reestablish their father/son connection, by the end of the fic being as close as Adrien was with his mother. One thing I should mention is that they would also have a second dynamic, a teacher/student one. The parts where they would have this dynamic would serve as a focusing point on their contrasting personalities, which would in turn allow me to show off their personalities (it would also be a time when Adrien would eventually open up about his crush and good old Gabe will try to hand some advice).

This time around I will try to have Gabriel a bit more involved in the story...

That's all I can say without going into spoiler territory, which is sadly not much. Oh! I should mention that he would eventually be using the Peacock Miraculous, just like he does in my original fic (although you only got to see **a little** of that)!

As always... happy reading!


	56. More variety in terms of locations... hopefully

Greetings! Critical Damage with a short update regarding the locations of the story!

One thing that I've noticed about my 'fighting arenas' is that they are very samey, Francoise Dupont being where a lot of the fights take place. That was something which I've begun to be dissatisfied with, since it lacks flare and all the fights end up being very samey as a result. One thing that I will try to do with my fights is have them more dynamic by having Volpina move around more, retreating into one place or another when she is in disadvantage, or simply just hiding. I wish to use the environment as a way to influence the fight and hopefully I will be able to achieve that this time around.

Another thing I would like to mention about the locations is that I'm adding a new one, this time completely original: Quantum Cafe! Quantum Cafe will act as the pseudo hub for the hero team, mostly the members that know each other on Marinette's side of things. I;m thinking of having the Champions go there too, but I'm not sure yet!

That is all for today! As always...

Happy reading!


	57. The Champions update! And 'bundle' chapters.

Greetings! Critical Damage here!

The Champions are an integral part of my story as they represent the people Marinette/Lady Monarch considers worthy of receiving powers and capable of using them! So, I decided that they will all be getting a little upgrade, in terms of appearance and some even in terms of abilities, as I'l try to make them as amazing as they can be. Sometimes I'll change their debut chapter.

Here's a (spoiler free) list of what I'm planning to do with a few of the champions

  1. Lady Wifi is getting an entire overhaul that will make her look even more like a hero (You'll see in her debut in chapter 5)
  2. Ironheart is getting a different power, which will be more in line with Ivan's short character development
  3. Bubblemaster is getting a bit of an update in terms of appearance and slight change in powers
  4. Timebender will actually have a different debut altogether!
  5. Invoclustrator is also getting a design upgrade and a different way through which his powers work.



Another thing I mentioned is that I would be incorporating the Miraculous shorts in my story and they will! Since the shorts were... well, short, I've decided to bundle them up in a single chapter, but have them be unconnected to one another, basically the same thing some shows do: they have a 20 minute air time consisting of 2 10 minute episodes.

That is all for today! Tomorrow You're getting the sneak peek. Till then...

Happy reading!


	58. Sneak Peek!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As promised: a sneak peek of the REDUX's first chapter! Enjoy!

It has been a year since the disappearance of French actress, activist and philanthropist Emilie Agreste (Graham de Vanily). The details regarding the incident are foggy, the only thing known for sure being that she disappeared while on her second trip to Tibet. There had been rumors going around that her health had declined since the first trip, but she and her husband had declined to give any comments on this and the media was not completely focusing on them, the mysterious appearance and even more mysterious disappearance of the vigilante known as Plume Bleue, as well as the appearance of another vigilante, this one known as Grand Chat, sharing the spotlight.

The disappearance of Emilie Agreste has nonetheless given way to a large scandal as fashion mogul husband Gabriel Agreste, the last person to see Emilie Agreste before her disappearance, has been accused of orchestrating the incident in the first place. Following this the Chatton brand has reported a major sale’s plummet. Mister Agreste has denied all accusations and has also been found not guilty in his trial. In time he managed to recover from the financial blow caused by these frightening news through diligent work and an inspiration from an unknown source...


End file.
